It seems as though Ed Sheeran was just pulling our tail when it came to that massive colorful lion tattoo on his chest. Though the "Photograph" singer proudly boasted the tribute to his sold-out Wembley Stadium shows on his Instagram earlier this month, he's now revealed the whole thing as a giant hoax.

Though it's not totally confirmed why he lied about getting a massive chestpiece, today (Aug. 26) on Instagram, the 24-year-old singer showed off his bare (albeit shaved) chest, revealing that he'd never gotten the colorful ink in the first place. "Was only joking about the lion," he wrote, showing off his tattoo-free upper body.

 Was only joking about the lion

A photo posted by @teddysphotos on Aug 26, 2015 at 4:31am PDT

Sheeran first courted some controversy when he shared the colorful lion on his Instagram earlier this month. The massive lion tattoo was only supposedly half-finished when he initially shared the snap, and plenty of fans and haters alike decried the tattoo as ugly and over-the-top.

Halfway and ouch A photo posted by @teddysphotos on Aug 11, 2015 at 2:36am PDT

But Sheeran, who has massive, colorful tattoos up and down both of his arms, initially defended the ink before revealing it had all been a ruse. "It's not the first weird tattoo I've got and it won't be the last, but I like all of them. I'm also eating a bowl of pasta now so byeziez x," he tweeted on Aug. 12.

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