Ed Sheeran tweets positive advice to Joe Irvine after being 'bullied' live on air by X Factor New Zealand's Natalia Kills

The singer, who is no stranger to defending others on Twitter, said Irvine should not worry about 'what other people think'

Ed Sheeran is the most listened-to act in the world (Getty Images)

Ed Sheeran has offered some words of wisdom to the X Factor New Zealand contestant who was bullied by the show’s hosts.

Joe Irvine was verbally attacked live on air by husband and wife judging duo Natalia Kills and Willy Moon after his performance of Michael Buble’s “Cry Me A River”.

“Do you not have any value or respect for originality?” Kills asked, before describing him as “creepy”, “cheesy” and “disgusting”.

Sheeran has added his voice to the growing amount of support for the young singer, tweeting to tell Irvine: “Don’t worry about what anyone else says man. Enjoy yourself with it, that’s what singing is about, not what other people think.”

The judges have since been sacked by MediaWorks, the owner of network TV3, after launching into a “destructive tirade” of verbal abuse against the amateur singer on Sunday night.

Two replacement judges are set to take over from Kills and Moon following their dismissal from the show.

“Both Kills and Moon made comments that were completely unacceptable,” a MediaWorks spokesperson said in a statement. “While the judges on X Factor are expected to provide critiques of the performances, we will not tolerate such destructive tirades from any of the judges.”

Sheeran is no stranger to responding to offensive comments on Twitter.

Earlier this year, the singer replied to Noel Gallagher after the Oasis star commented that he “couldn’t live in a world where Ed Sheeran sold out Wembley Stadium”, writing “I can live in it, its [sic] really enjoyable”.

He later texted Gallagher to offer him tickets to his Wembley Stadium concert.

Sheeran also defended Sam Smith on Twitter last year after the singer said he was getting hate tweets about his sexuality.

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