Robbie Williams takes a dig at the ABC following his New Year’s Eve performance

Caleb Taylor
Sunrise
Robbie Williams publicly takes a dig at the ABC following his New Year’s Eve performance.
Robbie Williams publicly takes a dig at the ABC following his New Year’s Eve performance. Credit: Seven

UK superstar Robbie Williams has taken a dig at the national broadcaster, following his much talked about New Year’s Eve performance at the Sydney Opera House.

Williams was on stage in Melbourne’s Federation Square to perform a free show on Thursday afternoon when he unleashed on the ABC, suggesting he had copped it for the heavy promotion of his biopic, Better Man on Tuesday night.

“Is anybody aware that I got in trouble for over-promoting my film on the TV? What the f*** did they think I was there for?” he said at the event.

Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.

Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.

Email Us
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.

“Get on a plane, come down and sing Angels again? F*** off! I’m here to sell my f***ing movie, you twits. You book Robbie Williams, you get Robbie Williams.”

However, Williams did make somewhat of an about-face after learning the ABC was taxpayer funded.

“Is the ABC funded by you guys, is that what it is? Oh, soz Australia,” he said.

It was a big afternoon for the British pop star, who was also presented with a key to the city following the show by Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece.

Robbie Williams has publicly taken a dig at the ABC following his New Year’s Eve performance.
Robbie Williams has publicly taken a dig at the ABC following his New Year’s Eve performance. Credit: Seven

His comments come days after Williams faced the ire of some social media users for promoting Better Man during the ABC broadcast.

“Some critics are calling it the movie of the century! Not my words, except they are because I just made that up,” Williams told the crowd on Tuesday night during his 40-minute performance.

Better Man is a biopic comedy musical that charts Williams from his early rise to fame in Take That to his solo career during which the star is portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee.

“Never seen anything like that a new low for the #abc,”one critic said on X, according to a Sky News report.

“Robbie Williams is busy posing & promoting himself, how about singing a song,” another added.

Williams also courted controversy when he was caught jokingly berating a fan who was singing along to his hit, Me and My Monkey.

“You made me come in at the wrong place,” Williams is heard saying on stage, during the ABC broadcast of the NYE performance.

“Can you stop doing the lyrics to the song ... Then I don’t get it wrong ... Now OK,” he added.

A number of other media outlets reported that the star jokingly told the fan to “shut up”. However, it is unclear if those are the words the hitmaker used.

Originally published on Sunrise

Latest Edition

The Nightly cover for 03-01-2025

Latest Edition

Edition Edition 3 January 20253 January 2025

Simon Holmes a Court, multi-millionaire founder of the movement that claims to encourage more decency in politics, revels in likening ex-PM to a child sex offender.