Sir Elton John's pronunciation of Ed Sheeran's name had viewers taking to Twitter in hysterics on Wednesday night! The iconic singer spoke about Ed for the Global Success Award presentation, and raised eyebrows when he pronounced his surname as 'Shir-ann'. Speaking via a video message, Elton said: "I'm so sorry I couldn't be there in person but I wouldn't miss the opportunity to talk about one of my dear friends. For the very first time I heard Ed Sheeran I knew he would be a huge star across the world." One person wrote: "Elton John calling Ed Sheeran his friend and then pronouncing his name wrong is honestly the best thing that happened all night."
Elton praised Ed, but mispronounced his surname
Another added: "Can we all talk about the way Elton John pronounces his 'close friend' Ed Shé-ran's name? #brits." A third person joked: "I LIVE for the fact Elton John mispronounces Ed Sheeran EVERY time with no intention of correcting it." Ronnie Wood also took to the stage to praise Ed during the awards evening, and said: "A few years ago, Ed performed with us in the States and he was really great, we saw in him a prolific songwriter, a lovely young guy. He really is one of the top talents we have, and I tell you what, it's made him so famous and so loveable, he's kept his feet on the ground, he's won our hearts and sold millions of records."
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This isn't the first time a star has mispronounced a name at an awards ceremony. John Travolta famously distorted Idina Menzel's name hen introducing her at the Oscars, instead calling her 'Adele Dazeem'. Speaking about the incident at the time, John said: "They were like, 'Okay you're on' and then they said, 'Oh by the way, we've changed Idina's name to a phonetic spelling and I was like, 'Wait - what do you mean?' So I go out there and I get to her thing and I go, 'Huh?' In my mind I'm going, 'What? What is that name? I don't know that name'. And it was this phonetic spelling, and I didn't rehearse it that way."
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