A British pop icon who has been sober for more than 20 years has hit back at cocaine accusations after a clip from a World Cup interview went viral.
Robbie Williams shut down the internet on Monday morning after a wild clip from his World Cup broadcast led the world to believe he dropped a slab of cocaine on live German television.
The incident occurred on Sunday night when Williams performed “Desire,” FIFA’s official song, at the 2026 World Cup closing ceremony at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where he shared the stage with Madonna, Justin Bieber, Shakira and Burna Boy.
During a post-match interview with German broadcaster MagentaTV, a small white object fell from around Williams’ face onto the microphone in front of him.
He picked it up but accidentally stuck it to his forehead while fixing his hair, which only made matters worse. Clips of the moment went viral on social media at full speed, with users convinced they had just watched the best-selling British solo artist in history casually pump his fist on live television.
Join us
AllHipHop’s daily news service
News delivered to your inbox since 1999. We broke it. They accepted it. First get it directly from AllHipHop.
You can tell those who haven’t been exposed to Robbie Williams level codeheads…the CN here makes you believe coke only goes into your nose😂 https://t.co/pMXPXiF4ej
— Only Chelsea ⚽️ (@Here4ChelseaFC) July 21, 2026
Given his well-documented history with drug addiction, the clip’s popularity was unlike that of most celebrities.
Williams has been open about his past struggles with cocaine, alcohol and ecstasy during his time in boy band Take That and during his early solo career.
Sir Elton John is credited with helping him take the first steps towards sobriety after he came close to death during a six-day drug binge in France in 1996.
Williams has stayed clean for more than 20 years and has never been shy about treating recovery as the foundation for everything he’s built since.
Instead of going dark or making a formal statement, Williams went all the way into chaos on Instagram on Monday morning.
He turned on the video, as if preparing to make a serious confession and build suspense, then stuck out his tongue to reveal a handful of mints.
Robbie Williams has responded to questions online about a microphone that went viral during a World Cup broadcast. 😂🎤 pic.twitter.com/ZQRwVAMo2u
– Unique post. (@DistinctPost) July 20, 2026
“Just woke up and felt… mints,” the caption read. He said the object was a half-chewed mint that fell from his mouth, not his nose, which is consistent with what many eagle-eyed viewers had already seen in the original video.
“It was very unprofessional and people were worried about me,” he says in the video, before laughing. “But that’s okay, because I still have a few more!”
The whole thing adds a new chapter to the career of Williams, who holds the record for the most number one albums in the UK Singles Chart as a solo artist, with 16 chart-topping albums.
His current album, Britpop, reached the milestone earlier this year and even featured Black Sabbath guitarist Tommy Iommi. Those in the hip-hop community may know him best for his 2002 Grammy-nominated song “My Culture,” featuring Faithless MC M### Jazz, which blended trip-hop, world music and spoken word to become a crossover hit that reached the top ten in the UK.
