On 14 June 2018 , Williams performed at the 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow , Russia . Williams sang “ Let Me Entertain You ” and “ Feel ” before he performed a duet of “ Angels ” with Russian soprano Aida Garifullina . Williams then performed an encore with “ Rock DJ ” , during which he gave the finger . Fox in the U.S. apologised for the incident which they had broadcast live . The incident was not shown on ITV in the UK who had cut away prior to the encore . Williams appeared on '' This Morning '' on 19 June and explained what happened , “ It was one minute to kick off , I was under a lot of pressure , because there was one minute left and I did n't know how I was going to do half a minute , so I just did a one-minute countdown using his middle finger . ” Asked by presenter Phillip Schofield whether he regrets it , he said : " Yeah , of course , yeah . I can not trust me . I do n't know what I 'm going to do at any time . There 's no , sort of , plan . The plan was , sing in key , do n't fall over . That was the plan and 99 % of the plan , I pulled off . ” When asked did the idea just enter his head he responded , “ Nothing actually pops into my head . There 's a block between me and sense ... then something happens and then five minutes later , I 'm like , ' Did I ? Yeah , I did , did n't I ? ”
2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony
2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony
Robbie Williams