Lifestyle Home Home Décor Ed Sheeran Explains Why He Gave Sam Smith a '6-Foot-2' Penis Statue Gift, Says They Asked for It After Smith spoke about receiving the NSFW gift during a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Sheeran told the backstory in an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert By Jack Irvin Jack Irvin Jack Irvin has over five years of experience working in digital journalism, and he’s worked at PEOPLE since 2022. Jack started in the industry with internships at Rolling Stone and Entertainment Tonight, and he worked as a freelance writer for publications including Bustle, MTV News, Shondaland, L’Officiel USA, Ladygunn, Flood and PopCrush before joining PEOPLE. In his current role, Jack covers daily music news and has interviewed both up-and-coming and established artists including Dolly Parton, Michelle Branch, Ashanti, Cyndi Lauper, Normani, Carly Rae Jepsen and Coco Jones. People Editorial Guidelines Published on October 19, 2022 02:45PM EDT Ed Sheeran is setting the record straight regarding the phallic artwork he recently gave Sam Smith as a gift. Days after Smith, 30, spoke about receiving a 6-foot tall 'marble penis' statue that weighs 'two tons' from Sheeran, 31, as an unexpected gift, the "2Step" singer-songwriter explained the backstory in an interview on Thursday's episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Before he could explain Smith's statue, Sheeran recalled the first time he gave a similarly NSFW gift to another musician. "Elton John has been involved in my career from the get-go, and he buys me weird gifts," he said. "Just, like, odd gifts, like sexual sort of objects." The "Thinking Out Loud" Grammy winner said he learned that John was "very proud" to have received a pair of "diamond-encrusted" penis rings from Eminem for his wedding to David Furnish. "Whenever I'm around there, they're like, 'Check it out. Aren't these cool?' And I'm like, 'I need to one-up this. I need to get Elton a present that's going to make him go, '[Gasp] Oh my God,'" said Sheeran. Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith. Mike Marsland/WireImage; Karwai Tang/WireImage Sam Smith Says Ed Sheeran Gifted Them a 6-Foot Tall 'Marble Penis' Statue That Weighs 'Two Tons' He joked that he "got this huge, flopping, droopy thing" for John — one of multiple penis statues, as he detailed another as a "big, erect, vein-y one." "I gave it to him for his birthday, and Elton was over the moon about it. And then it got out in the press that I had done it," continued Sheeran. "I would be doing interviews, and people would be like, 'Well, can I have one?'" Smith then apparently asked for a phallic statue of their own while recording at a studio near Sheeran's house. "Sam saw one of them and said, 'Can I have one?' And I said, 'What would you like?'" said the "Bad Habits" musician. "And Sam said, 'One the size of me. One that's 6-foot-2.' So there we go. That's it." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. During an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show last week, Smith told a story about receiving the oversized gift from Sheeran. "Oh my God... It's actually wild. I thought it was a joke, but it's a six-foot-two marble penis," they told host Kelly Clarkson, who asked for details about the suggestive present. "It's two tons, and I'm gonna have to get it craned into my house." (Sheeran told Stephen Colbert the statue actually weighs two-and-a-half tons.) Regarding Smith's plans for the statue, they said, "Well, I want to turn it into a fountain, which I think will be hard to do." Close