Ed Sheeran has addressed the division in his fanbase over his newly inked lion tattoo, saying that he doesn’t care what anybody thinks and that his is the “only opinion that matters”. Well that’s cleared that up then.

Over the weekend, the 24 year old megastar took to Twitter and Instagram to show off his latest tattoo, that of a giant lion across his chest and between his nipples, with the caption ‘Halfway and ouch’ underneath it. His millions of fans quickly responded to the striking artwork, many of them not loving it at all.

Halfway and ouch

A photo posted by @teddysphotos on

But the man himself eventually responded when Keane frontman Tom Chaplin gave his thoughts, writing: “Please tell me this is a prank. Cos if it isn't, @edsheeran has a really bad picture of a lion on his chest FOREVER”. Sheeran replied “I like it, and that’s the only opinion that matters”.

More: Ed Sheeran replacing Justin Bieber at Fusion Festival

Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday (August 9th) just after unveiling the new tattoo, Sheeran said that he decided to get it done to celebrate his recent stint of sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium. “Originally I was going to get the floor plan tattooed on my side, but that seemed a bit ridiculous.”

The following day, Sheeran’s tattoo artist Kevin Paul revealed the star’s plans for body art won’t be stopping with the lion. “Ed is nowhere near done. There are going to be even bigger tattoos in the next few months. He’s going to have his entire back covered, and then across his ribs. It’ll be incredible,” he said to The Sun.

Sheeran completed three nights of completely sold-out shows at the home of the England football team in mid-July, celebrating the massive success of his second album X. Though he said that these would be his last UK live date for the foreseeable future, he has been parachuted in to headline the Fusion Festival in Birmingham later in August in the absence of Justin Bieber.

More: Nicole Scherzinger rumoured to be dating Ed Sheeran