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The ‘Piano Man’ who went viral after vowing to play non-stop until his ex-girlfriend returned to him has spoken out following a social media backlash.

Luke Howard was slammed online and accused of being a “creep” after attempting to win back his girlfriend by playing a piano he set up on College Green around the clock.

He continued to play over the weekend, even as the Bristol Post's story about his attempt to persuade a woman he would only publicly call "Rapunzel" went viral, but has now stopped.

Luke said he had been punched in the head at around 4am today - but added that the reason he stopped was that he realised he had "spectacularly failed" in his original aim.

Speaking to the i, the 34-year-old musician rejected suggestions it was a PR stunt and issued an apology to those offended by his plan.

“I stopped playing yesterday because I realised that what I had wanted to do had spectacularly failed,” he said.

“The social media reaction turned it very quickly into something that would cause the one person I didn’t want to hurt embarrassment and pain. That was the last thing in the world I had wanted to happen, so I left.”

The Bristol Post’s initial story on Luke went viral within a matter of hours, after it was highlighted by Sian Norris, the founder of Bristol Women’s Literary Festival.

Pulling no punches, Sian tweeted at the time: “Men, women are allowed to leave you. You are not entitled to a girlfriend.

“Media, stop romanticising controlling, stalker behaviour.”

This was echoed by other Twitter users, with some referring to Luke’s four-month relationship as nothing more than a “long fling” while others called him a “brat”.

The story was even referenced by Bristol comic Mark Watson during his show at the Wardrobe Theatre on Saturday evening.

“He saw the story on the Post 's website, described it and 99.9 per cent of the audience went ‘ahhhh!’ and only I said ‘eurgh!’,” one audience member told the Post .

“He said it was one of those things that divides public opinion, but it really is a bit ‘eurgh!’ isn’t it?

“I said it was like a toddler holding its breath 'til it gets what it wants."

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