Ed Sheeran has accused controversial cartoon series South Park of “ruining” his life by preventing ginger hair from ever being “cool”.

“Having red hair in England was always a thing that people took the p*** out of you for,” the Shivers hit-maker, 30, explained to Slam Radio, adding: “But it was never something in America. People never knew what a ginger was in America.”

“That episode of South Park f***ing ruined my life,” he continued. “I was going to America and everyone was like ’I love your hair dude.’ And I was like ‘Oh my God, people like my hair?’

“And then I remember that episode coming out and that was just it worldwide for the rest of my life.”

The episode he is referring to is called Ginger Kids from the show’s ninth season.

It sees main character Eric Cartman wake up one morning to discover he has ginger hair, which is referred to as “gingervitis”.

Elsewhere in the episode, having ginger hair is described as “a curse”.

Despite the hard feelings which obviously still exist, Sheeran says he is a fan of the long-running show and would love the opportunity to voice a character on it.