Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig was branded a "huge stoner" by one of his high school teachers.

The 'Cousins' singer said he was mistaken for a heavy marijuana smoker in High School in New York because he kept falling asleep - but protests he was just tired.

He explained: "I remember I used to fall asleep a lot in High School, and I applied to this programme they had at my High School called 'Peer Leadership' that was like very exclusive.

"I had good grades and I was well liked and all that, but then one of the teachers told everybody that I shouldn't get it because I was a 'huge stoner', and I wasn't a huge stoner by any means.

Ezra did, however, admit he did indulge in smoking so called 'weed' from time to time.

He added to Absolute Radio host Geoff Lloyd: "For a High School student, you know, I was towards the bottom end of the spectrum of smokers, you know, every once in a while.

"But certainly not before school, and I was like, 'It's not fair, teenagers are tired, just because they fall asleep in class doesn't mean they're a stoner."

Ezra, 25, later went on to attend the prestigious Columbia University, one of America's top Ivy League institutions.