Bruno Mars, like everyone else on Twitter last night (July 21), felt weird and bummed out over Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift's fraught dialogue around the MTV Video Music Awards. So he decided to add some levity to the situation by starting a "feud" of his own with Ed Sheeran.

Given the fact that Ed is such good friends with Taylor — and a fellow nominee for Video of the Year, as is Bruno Mars — one could understand if the "Thinking Out Loud" singer responded to Bruno's faux jab with a tasteful-yet-neutral favorite, possibly an RT. But Sheeran couldn't resist...and he went straight for the height joke. Oof.

 

Bruno clapped back with some name-related wordplay ("U always know how to sheer me to the core. I can't believe we're Sheeran this in public.") which only works in certain rap battles and schoolyard taunts from 10-year-olds. Oh, and also joke feuds. Well played, Bruno.

Then Ed decided to deliver the death strike: A mildly confusing "rap" in which he says Bruno Mars has a unibrow and is bad at playing Clue. HEY. Settle down, fellas.

While the pretend "beef" was all in good fun — and did add humor at a great moment, Bruno's first tweet in particular — Taylor and Nicki's initial exchange did raise some very real issues about the music industry and about MTV's somewhat perplexing list of 2015 VMA nominees. And, in addition to Nicki's valid questions about her "Anaconda" Video of the Year Snub (despite being one of the most visually-iconic pieces of pop culture in 2014, whether you liked it or not), have you even seen the rock category? There's a very pliable definition of "rock" with some of those choices, and examining the nominee list serves to remind us that award shows certainly aren't the ultimate arbiter of excellence — they're not even always an accurate reflection of the market.

Oh, and Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul also saw fit to insert himself with a semi-condescending invitation to heal Taylor and Nicki's rift over some pie. Pie ain't gonna do it, Pinkman.

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