Ed Sheeran offers support to 'bullied' X Factor New Zealand contestant

Natalia Kills and Willy Moon were sacked due to taunts

Published 17th Mar 2015

Ed Sheeran has offered his support to the contestant on the New Zealand version of The X Factor who was bullied by judges Natalia Kills and Willy Moon.

Husband and wife duo Natalia and Willy were sacked by TV3 on Monday following the verbal savaging they inflicted upon 25-year-old singer Joe Irvine over the suit he was wearing during Sunday’s live show.

After Joe finished his rendition of Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me A River’, Natalia accused him of stealing her husband’s (extremely generic) look and branded him “disgusting”, “cheesy” and “sickening.”

Kicking Joe while he was down, Willy added to the tirade by comparing him to Norman Bates from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ adding: “I feel like you’re going to stitch someone’s skin to your face and then kill everybody in the audience.”

The cringe worthy clip went viral across the globe and now the nicest man in pop™, Ed Sheeran, has lent his support to Joe.

He tweeted: “Don't worry about what anyone else says man. Enjoy yourself with it, that's what singing is about, not what other people think.”

Following the controversy, Joe gained almost 17,000 Twitter followers and has gained countless supporters across the globe.

He tweeted last night: “I love you all thank you all so much for your support it’s a big thing to me I really appreciate all the kindness and support.”

Former X Factor UK winner James Arthur also backed Joe, telling his 2million followers: “That poor guy on XFNZ. He didn't do anything wrong? Apart from slightly resemble that willy.. I'm off to New Zealand to save the day lol”

He added: