Robbie says his lack of sense led to finger row
ROBBIE Williams said he made a one-finger salute to one billion TV viewers at the World Cup opening ceremony because “there is a block between me and sense”.
The Angels singer said he had not intended to spark an international incident by making the gesture to a global TV audience after performing before the opening game.
Robbie, 44, said it was a spontaneous act which he could not help.
He told Good Morning Britain: “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. “That was the plan. “Nothing actually popped into my head.
“Then something happens and then five minutes later I’m like, ‘Did I just… yeah I did, didn’t I?’
“It’s like there is a block between me and sense.’’
The ex-Take That star’s gesture into a camera as he left the pitch at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium after a storming performance sent Twitter into meltdown as fans blasted him for a “lack of morals”.
Others accused him of setting a bad example to children watching round the globe.
He risked arrest and a possible 500,000 rouble (£6,000) fine if Russian officials ruled the gesture a “public insult” under Article 5.61of the country’s administrative code.
But Robbie revealed he had escaped unpunished.
His appearance last week came just two years after he created controversy by seemingly mocking Russian culture.
The video to his 2016 song Party Like A Russian featured the Stoke-on-Trentborn star dance with ballerinas and attempt a Russian accent.