Robbie Williams Addresses Bizarre World Cup Microphone Viral Moment

Robbie Williams is clarifying exactly what was going on in a recent viral video taken behind the scenes of the World Cup final.

On Sunday night, Robbie was one of the performers at Fifa’s World Cup final pre-show, where he was joined on stage by Pussycat Dolls star Nicole Scherzinger and Italian pop star Laura Pausini.

Before the game, the Let Me Entertain You singer and football superfan spoke to German TV channel Magenta Sport – and inadvertently sparked a viral moment, when something appeared on the mic in front of him while he was speaking.

He then promptly removed it without comment, leaving many curious as to exactly what had gone down.

As footage of the incident racked up views on social media, an undiscosed “source” told The Sun that it was actually a semi-chewed Nicorette mint that had fallen from Robbie’s mouth, which he confirmed to be the case in an Instagram video.

“I’d just like to apologise for the object that fell onto the microphone yesterday,” he deadpanned. “I was deeply unprofessional and people worried about me. But it’s OK, because I had several more.”

Following this, the Brit Award winner opened his mouth with a laugh, to reveal he was chewing on two more of the mints in question.

In addition to Robbie, Nicole and Laura’s performance, the World Cup final also featured Fifa’s first ever halftime show, which was met with a somewhat muted response.

The World Cup halftime show got off to a strong start with a (mostly pre-recorded) rendition of Music by Madonna, with some iconic football cameos.

Following this, its star-studded line-up included the South Korean boyband BTS, Canadian chart-topper Justin Bieber and Grammy winner Shakira, who teamed up with Burna Boy for a performance of their World Cup anthem Dai Dai.

Other guests included The Muppets and Jason Sudeikis, performing a short skit in character as Ted Lasso ahead of the award-winning sports comedy’s return next month.