--- title: World Cup Performer Robbie Williams Made Quite a Statement description: The former Take That member sang at the World Cup 2018 opening ceremony — and made a shocking gesture to the cameras while performing. canonical: https://time.com/5312791/robbie-williams-world-cup/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-14T19:13:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:25.897Z og:title: World Cup Performer Robbie Williams Made Quite a Statement og:description: The English pop singer made a shocking hand gesture to the cameras og:url: https://time.com/5312791/robbie-williams-world-cup/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cd046c3f3b3d911/69893322db29879bbf25fee6/robbie-williams-world-cup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4296 og:image:height: 2417 og:image:alt: Russia v Saudi Arabia: Group A - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: World Cup Performer Robbie Williams Made Quite a Statement twitter:description: The English pop singer made a shocking hand gesture to the cameras twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cd046c3f3b3d911/69893322db29879bbf25fee6/robbie-williams-world-cup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # World Cup Performer Robbie Williams Made Quite an Eyebrow-Raising Statement > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 14, 2018 7:13 PM UTC  Singer Robbie Williams performs in the opening ceremony prior to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Group A match between Russia and Saudi Arabia at Luzhniki Stadium on June 14, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. Singer Robbie Williams performs in the opening ceremony prior to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Group A match between Russia and Saudi Arabia at Luzhniki Stadium on June 14, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. Lars Baron - FIFA—FIFA via Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 14, 2018 7:13 PM UTC It’s been a minute since English singer [Robbie Williams](http://time.com/3104965/robin-williams-dead-not-robbie-williams-twitter/), a member of former boy band Take That in its ’90s heyday, has graced a globally-televised stage. At Thursday’s [2018 World Cup](http://time.com/5310099/world-cup-russia-watch-teams-players/) opening ceremony at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia, however, the performer got to do just that. And he used his moment in the spotlight to grace audiences with a number of his classic hits — as well as to flip the bird at the cameras during his show. Although the controversial moment was not televised on the ITV broadcast to British viewers, others watching — and all of Twitter, once the clip was picked up and circulated — certainly did catch his hand gesture. While some found his surprise use of the middle finger disrespectful to everyone watching, others applauded Williams’s rebellious attitude on one of the world’s biggest stages. Williams was joined for the [throwback pop performance](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/14/robbie-williams-delivers-for-short-sharp-world-cup-opening-ceremony) by Russian singer Aida Garifullina and a bevy of sequin-costumed dancers. After they concluded their show, the Saudi Arabia and Russian teams kicked off the first match of the Cup, with Russia handily winning 5-0 as Crown Prince [Mohammed bin Salman](http://time.com/collection-post/5217538/crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman/) and President Vladimir Putin watched from the stands. > [](https://twitter.com/WorldCup18Info/status/1007279187294654464) > [](https://twitter.com/90thMin/status/1007277503424225280) > [](https://twitter.com/MenInBlazers/status/1007295140371861504) > [](https://twitter.com/DavidVujanic/status/1007272818541826050) > [](https://twitter.com/lppny/status/1007272598084911109) > [](https://twitter.com/bouncebckbltrx/status/1007272548810158080) > [](https://twitter.com/kevinbridges86/status/1007270090352578560) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5312791/robbie-williams-world-cup/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5312791/robbie-williams-world-cup/"},"headline":"World Cup Performer Robbie Williams Made Quite an Eyebrow-Raising Statement","datePublished":"2018-06-14T19:13:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:53:25.897Z","description":"Take that","url":"https://time.com/5312791/robbie-williams-world-cup/","keywords":["Newsfeed","World Cup 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cd046c3f3b3d911/69893322db29879bbf25fee6/robbie-williams-world-cup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cd046c3f3b3d911/69893322db29879bbf25fee6/robbie-williams-world-cup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russia v Saudi Arabia: Group A - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia","caption":"Russia v Saudi Arabia: Group A - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia","creditText":"Lars Baron - FIFA—FIFA via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5312791/robbie-williams-world-cup/","name":"World Cup Performer Robbie Williams Made Quite an Eyebrow-Raising Statement"}}]}] ```