The Ballon d’Or co-host who asked the first women's winner to twerk at the award ceremony has issued a full apology.
Martin Solveig, a 42-year-old French DJ, issued the statement after fierce backlash to the remark made to Norwegian striker Ada Hegerberg.
At the ceremony on Monday night, he asked the 23-year-old award winner if she knew how to do the dance and she simply replied: “No.”
The following day, Mr Solveig apologised to “the one I may have offended” and later said he spoke to her and she “understood it was a joke”.
In a further statement, issued on Twitter, he said: “I want to publicly apologise for any misunderstanding that came from yesterday’s exchange between myself and Ada Hegerberg during the Ballon d’Or ceremony. I acknowledge that it was in poor taste and I am deeply sorry for my mistake.
“To add context to the incident, I was asked to prepare a song for each winner and would dance with each recipient after their award was presented.
“The clip circulating on social media does not reflect the whole situation. Moments after I made the remark, we went on to dance together to Frank Sinatra’s ‘Fly Me To The Moon’.
“The twerking comment was used in contrast to the song I had prepared for her. However, this sentiment was misunderstood and has sadly caused offence.
“I immediately apologised to Ada for any potential upset I may have caused her. She has publicly addressed that she understood the context in which I made the comment.
“I want to apologise again to anyone I have offended. I wish for the focus to be shifted back to celebrating Ada Hegerberg becoming the first women to be awarded a Ballon d’Or.”
After the event in Paris, Ms Hegerberg told reporters that she accepted an apology from Mr Solveig.
She said: “He came to me afterwards and was really sad that it went that way. I didn't really think about it at the time to be honest.
“I didn't really consider it as sexual harassment or anything in the moment. I was just happy to do the dance and win the Ballon d'Or to be honest."
Following the incident, Chelsea forward Eniola Aluko called his first apology “pathetic”, while tennis star Andy Murray said the incident was an “example of the ridiculous sexism that still exists in sport”.
Ms Hegerberg plays for Norway internationally, Olympique Lyonnais at club level and is a three-time Champion’s League winner.
She made history as she became the recipient of the first ever women’s Ballon d’Or and has scored some 284 goals in her career, totalling international and club tallies.
On receiving the award, she said: “I would like to say a huge thanks to France Football, for letting us have this opportunity to have this award.
“I would like to end this speech, with some words to young girls all over the world. Please believe in yourself."
The winner of this year's men's award was Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric, ending the dominance of Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo in recent years.
