British musician Ed Sheeran has appeared in a courtroom in New York City in order to refute accusations that his song ‘Thinking Out Loud’ plagiarized Marvin Gaye's song Let's Get it On.
The co-writer of the song with Gaye, Ed Townsend, is supposedly owed money by Sheeran, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Publishing for allegedly stealing the tune.
A defense attorney referred to Sheeran's usage of Gaye's lyrics in his concerts as a "smoking gun" when the case first began.
The Grammy winner, 32, claimed in court that he didn't steal lyrics from Gaye's 1973 single.
Sheeran acknowledged writing the lyrics to the song "plagiarism is hidden" from Take it Back when asked about them by attorney Keisha Rice.
He replied, "Those are my lyrics, yes," and asked, "Can I explain them?"
She continued by asking him about concert footage taken in Zurich that showed him fusing lyrics from Gaye's song with those from Thinking Out Loud and added that if she needed any context, she would ask for it.
Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer for the family, had earlier told the court that the concert footage was akin to a "smoking gun" confession.
Sheeran replied that he occasionally combined songs with similar chords during his performances and that he got upset when Ms. Rice interrupted him.
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