Lady Gaga Hopes For ‘Kinder’ Online Community After Her Fans Drove Ed Sheeran Off Twitter

Lady Gaga took to Instagram on Tuesday to defend Ed Sheeran after the British singer revealed that he had stopped interacting with people on social media after receiving a flood of hate tweets from Gaga’s fans over a perceived fight.

In her Instagram post, the “Bad Romance” hitmaker called Sheeran an “incredible talented artist,” who deserves “love and respect” just like everybody else. Gaga also expressed her hopes for a “positive and loving” online community that is “kind and empowering” and “not hateful and mean.” Gaga went on to tell everyone that there’s no reason to put an artist down just because they are doing well in their careers. “Work harder to be kinder everybody,” Gaga wrote. “That should be your first duty to humanity.”

READ: Ed Sheeran slams rumor he didn’t play live at Glastonbury Festival

During a recent interview with U.K.’s The Sun, Sheeran admitted that he came off Twitter completely after he could no longer handle the criticism he had been receiving from Gaga’s fans. “Lady Gaga’s fanbase read an interview in which they assumed I was talking about her, and [then] they all [started to] hate [me]. And it wasn’t anything to do with that at all,” Sheeran said.

“I go on [Twitter] and there’s nothing but people saying mean things,” said the “Shape of You” crooner. “One comment ruins your day. That’s why I’ve come off it.”

The previous interview Sheeran was referring to seems to be his lengthy sit-down discussion with Zane Lowe for Beats Radio 1 last January. During the interview, Sheeran said: “I do not want to be the kind of artist who has had two successful albums and then feels invincible. I have to know when to listen to people, or I’ll end up like those artists you’ve interviewed in recent years. The smartest thing to do is listen to people who know I do not want to do the Super Bowl years later, after my biggest success, just to prove I’m still relevant.”

Given how close Sheeran’s comments fell to Gaga’s Super Bowl show earlier this year, her fans took offense at what he said.

Although Sheeran had already left Twitter, his account remains active as his Instagram account automatically generates tweets on the site.