Musician Robbie Williams found himself in a world of strife after giving the finger to a cameraman during his performance at the 2018 World Cup opening in Moscow.
Williams was halfway through a rather lacklustre performance of his past hits when he apparently decided to give the one billion-plus TV audience the finger.
Fans immediately roasted the 44-year-old’s behaviour on Twitter, amid rumours Williams may risk facing arrest and a fine by Russian authorities if it is proved he meant it as an insult.
Now, Williams has explained he was simply signalling a minute countdown the crowd and cameraman.
Speaking on a London-based morning show, Williams said, “At these things, it’s really important not to cause an international incident. And do you know what? I managed it.”
“I was under a lot of pressure because there was one minute left and I didn’t know how I was going to do it in half a minute.
“So I just did a one-minute countdown.”
“I can’t trust me. I don’t know what I’m going to do at any time. There was no sort of plan. The plan was to sing in key, don’t fall over.”
He added there’s usually a disconnect between his head and actions during any performance, and didn’t realise what he had done until a few moments after.
“Nothing actually pops into my head. There’s a block between me and sense, and then something happens and five minutes later I’m like, ‘Did I just… yeah I did, didn’t I?!'”
