Ed Sheeran’s Halloween costume for 2024 has an intriguing backstory. The 33-year-old Grammy-winning artist embraced the spooky holiday on October 31 by donning a monkey costume, paying homage to a specific AI-generated image of himself that has gained traction as an online meme.
In the now-famous photo, Sheeran is seen bending over a table, smiling directly at the camera while dressed in the monkey outfit and holding up the original AI-generated image on his phone. He captioned the Instagram post with the phrase, “Haters will say it’s AI,” and added the hashtags #halloweenbruv and #feltcutemightdeletelater.
Ed Sheeran brings a viral Apple Store meme to life in his Halloween outfit
The original AI image closely resembles Sheeran’s Halloween look, showing him in the monkey costume while holding an iPhone and smiling from a tabletop in an Apple Store. This altered image draws inspiration from a widely circulated photo of a young boy in a monkey costume using an iPad in an Apple Store, which became a viral sensation in the early 2010s.
Throughout previous Halloween celebrations, Sheeran has transformed into various characters, including Chucky from Child’s Play, the gingerbread man, Austin Powers, and Ron Weasley from Harry Potter.
Fans might be surprised to learn that Sheeran is aware of the Apple Store meme, given his admission that he doesn’t spend much time online and has “got rid” of his phone. During a June appearance on Therapuss with Jake Shane, he revealed, “I haven’t had a phone since 2015.”
He clarified, “I have something to like video stuff that would then go up on social media, but it’s not like an active working phone.” Sheeran’s decision to forgo a phone originated in December 2015 when he noticed the vast number of contacts he had accumulated since the beginning of his career.
“I had the same number from like age 15, I think,” he recounted, noting that after achieving fame, he found himself with 10,000 contacts who were constantly texting him, leading to overwhelming communication.
