Ed Sheeran’s management have pulled a clip of the singer rapping about ‘faggots’ off of YouTube.

A video emerged this week of a freestyle rap battle between Sheeran and rap artist Devlin – and is thought to be from around 2011.

In the rap, Sheeran said: “Yo, I freestyle to the faggoty man.

“I go on the bus and I sleep for a day, then I come back and they’re like, Ed, you look like this gay.

“These guys are safe, they’re not gay mans.”

Elsewhere in the clip, he joked: “I eat ham but I’m not a Muslim, but I ­freestyle because I’m not a Christian either.”

However, when the singer’s management were approached for comment on the clip, it disappeared offline due to a “copyright claim”.

A spokesman for Sheeran told the Mirror: “Ed was sending up rappers who make homophobic remarks. He is clearly not ­homophobic.”

However, Stonewall warned that the lyrics used by Sheeran portray language that is “endemic in our schools”.

Two years ago, Sheeran rallied against the Westboro Baptist Church when they picketed one of his shows.

He told the hate group: “Keep your homophobic views to yourself, it’s 2013.”