Robbie Williams has responded to claims that a white object falling onto his microphone during a World Cup television interview was cocaine.
READ MORE: Robbie Williams – ‘BRITPOP’ review: a love letter to the ’90s and a bid to live forever
Shortly after performing at the tournament’s closing ceremony at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium yesterday (July 19), the singer appeared on German broadcaster MagentaTV’s post-match coverage.
During the interview, a small white object appeared to fall from Williams’ mouth and land on his microphone. He picked it off before touching his hair and inadvertently leaving it stuck to the side of his forehead.
Clips of the moment subsequently went viral, with some social media users claiming that the object had fallen from his nose and was cocaine.
Check out the footage below.
Robbie Williams on the fucking packet on live TV pic.twitter.com/3G9ooKXE8o
— Swearing Sports News (@SwearingSport) July 20, 2026
Robbie Williams goes on a German live TV World Cup 2026 broadcast and a little white rock dropped from his nose
Netizens wondering what just happened ? pic.twitter.com/1HogTu140v
— Thegrandmaboy (@TheGrandmaBoy) July 20, 2026
Williams has now poked fun at the speculation in a video shared on Instagram today (July 20).
Lying in bed and adopting a solemn tone, he acknowledged the object and joked: “It was deeply unprofessional and people worried about me. But it’s OK, because I had several more!”
He then stuck out his tongue to reveal two circular mints before bursting into laughter. The post was captioned: “Just woke up and feeling…. Mint.”
Williams has spoken candidly throughout his career about his past struggles with alcohol and drugs, but in an interview with El País earlier this month, he said that he had not drunk alcohol in 25 years.
Back in 2020, he called for the UK to cut back on alcohol and drugs, claiming the country had been “delusional” for too long about their adverse effects. “We don’t need any of that stuff,” he said. “Then it becomes a crutch and then people rely on it and I totally get it. But it’s such a crying shame that it is such a natural thing to do. I think it shouldn’t be a natural thing to do.”
At the World Cup ceremony, Williams, who was named FIFA’s official Music Ambassador last year, performed ‘Desire’ alongside Laura Pausini and Nicole Scherzinger.
The pair first performed the song ahead of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain at the same New Jersey stadium. Williams then sang it with Scherzinger at the 2026 World Cup Final Draw later that year, before releasing a new version featuring both Scherzinger and Pausini last Friday (July 17).
Elsewhere, Williams recently surprised fans in Seville by joining a busker for an impromptu performance of ‘Angels’.
At Bilbao BBK last week, NME described his 90-minute headline performance as a “gloriously uninhibited” celebration of showmanship, adding: ” Robbie went all-in on getting the crowd as revved up as possible via the sort of relentless bag of tricks that exemplified the singer’s unique place in UK pop – part stadium-sized juggernaut, part cheeky Butlins entertainer. Has anyone ever played more covers during a festival headline than this?”
Released in January, ‘BRITPOP’ became Williams’ record-breaking 16th UK Number One album, taking him ahead of The Beatles as the artist with the most chart-topping albums in UK chart history.
In April, he teamed up with Reverend & The Makers on the introspective single ‘Fucked Up’, with frontman Jon McClure describing Williams as “the soundest fella in the music game”.
More recently, he was named Port Vale FC’s Foundation Ambassador and official front-of-shirt partner. His ‘RW’ mark will appear on the club’s home and away shirts throughout the 2026/27 and 2027/28 seasons.
“It feels pretty incredible, to be honest,” he said. “Robbie Williams, on the front of a Port Vale shirt. It’s a match made in heaven, for me.”
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