When questioned during his plagiarism trial, singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran threatened to quit the music industry if found guilty of copying a song by Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend.
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“If that happens, I’m done. I resigned,” the British artist said when questioned by his lawyer Ilene Farkas on Monday about the impact on his career if the jury found him guilty of plagiarizing the play Thinking Out Loud.
“I find it really insulting to devote my entire life to being an artist and composer and to see someone wanting to belittle all of that,” he added during his trial in federal court in New York.
Ed Sheeran has been accused of copying the Marvin Gaye track Let’s Get it On for his song Thinking Out Loud, found on his 2014 Opus X.
Ed Townsend, who co-wrote Let’s Get It On with Marvin Gaye in 1972, is suing the 32-year-old artist for $100 million.
Last week, Ed Townsend’s attorneys released a music video of Ed Sheeran performing Thinking Out Loud live, which morphs into Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, during the trial, according to the Daily News.
The author, composer and performer replied that it is not uncommon for performers to make these kinds of transitions in performance. What he’s already done, he said, is combining Thinking Out Loud with Van Morrison’s Crazy in Love and Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You.
“Honestly, I’d be an idiot if I did what I’m accused of doing on stage in front of 20,000 people,” he said, noting that Thinking Out Lout was inspired by Irish musician Van Morrison.