Ballon d’Or winner asked to twerk
What was supposed to be an historic moment in women’s sport was ruined by an offensive comment.
Olympique Lyonnais and Norway player Ada Hegerberg won the inaugural Ballon d’Or award for the best player in women’s football yesterday.
However, her special moment will always be remembered for DJ Martin Solveig asking her to ‘twerk’ on stage in front of a worldwide TV audience after receiving the prize.
Hegerberg’s stone-faced response of ‘‘Non’’ to the request said it all.
However, she later tried to play down the controversy, saying she wasn’t offended by the twerking request. But Solveig still apologised on Twitter after his comment caused a social media stir.
He tweeted, ‘‘I didn’t know that this could be seen as such an offence,’’ and added: ‘‘This was a joke, probably a bad one.’’
The clip from the ceremony quickly racked up millions of views.
Hegerberg said Solveig also apologised to her personally, even though ‘‘I wasn’t upset’’.
She cheerfully said, ‘‘I got to dance a bit and I got the Ballon d’Or.’’
This was the first time in the 62-year history of the Ballon d’Or that there had been a separate award for the best woman player in the world and it went to the striker who helped her club win the Women’s Champions League.
The men’s award went to Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric.