Robbie Williams has jokingly addressed a “deeply unprofessional” on-screen gaffe during the World Cup final in which he accidentally spat a small white object onto his microphone.
The 52-year-old singer, who had performed alongside Nicole Scherzinger and Laura Pausini at the closing ceremony on Sunday, drew attention during an appearance on German TV channel Magenta Sport.
While speaking to pundits, the object emerged, which he then picked up, held, and subsequently rubbed onto his head, where it stuck to his forehead.
The incident quickly garnered attention. Williams later took to social media to share a video explaining the mysterious item, clarifying the nature of the unexpected moment.
Filming himself lying in bed, the performer says: “I’d just like to apologise for the object that fell on to the microphone yesterday.
“I was deeply unprofessional, and people worried about me.”
“But it’s OK. Because I had several more,” he continues, before sticking his tongue out and revealing two circular mints.
Williams breaks out laughing before the video cuts off.
Captioning the Instagram post, he wrote: “Just woke up and feeling…. Mint x.”
On Sunday night, the first World Cup half-time show was also held.
The final between Argentina and Spain featured an 11-minute spectacle with stars from around the world including Madonna, Shakira, BTS and Justin Bieber.
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The show at the New York New Jersey Stadium also featured an appearance from Muppets characters Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.
Fifa extended the half-time interval of the match from the customary 15 minutes to more than 27 minutes.
Former England forward Wayne Rooney, who was at the New York New Jersey Stadium working as a BBC pundit alongside Joe Hart and Micah Richards, did not hold back when asked for his highlights of the show by presenter Gabby Logan
“I’ll be honest, mine was when it finished. I like a lot of them artists but I thought it was crap,” he said.
“It just didn’t get me going and I wanted the football to come back on. I like Burna Boy, I like Bieber, I like Shakira, but that was too flat.”
Richards called Rooney “miserable” for his assessment, while Logan added: “I’ll tell you what else you get on the BBC: honest reviews.”
