"Sorry for offending anyone." Will.i.am responds to criticism about AFL Grand Final performance.

Isn’t it the worst when you’re telling a friend about how the barista wrote “Stella” instead of “Bella” on your coffee cup again and they start looking at their phone?

RUDE.

WHAT ON EARTH COULD BE MORE INTERESTING THAN THIS VERY IMPORTANT STORY I AM TELLING YOU?

Well, will.i.am has come under fire for doing just that at the AFL Grand Final.

Except he wasn’t ignoring anyone’s barista story, he was just, you know, performing to thousands upon thousands of footy fans who had paid exorbitant amounts of money to be there. No biggie.

Not cool will.i.am. Not cool.

The faux pas made headlines, with many fans taking to Twitter to wag a metaphorical finger at the global star…And just criticise the entire Black Eyed Peas performance in general, because it’s the internet and that’s what people like to do now.

It’s soooo rude. Put your bloody phone down and interact with your audience

— Peter Jones (@Jones28Pete) September 29, 2018

Fleetwood Mac wouldn’t check their phones during a performance. Typical lack of class shown by modern artists.

— Casual Fox (@OnTheWayLCFC) September 29, 2018

Well i thought it was lame..at a point where all artists are complaining about the amount of fans using phones at gigs instead of watching and enjoying the moment. I wouldn’t pay to watch you use the phone!!

— Into The Void (@FatherMoFo) September 29, 2018

How long will it be til the @AFL realised that it’s so embarrassing that they try to be the super bowl and bring over American acts to play (black eyed peas, meatloaf, Lionel richie etc…)
Barnesy just crushed it.
Book all Australian bands for a classic Australian event!!

— Fraser A. Gorman (@fraseragorman) September 29, 2018

Meat Loaf was better. #AFLGF

— Cameron Atfield (@CameronAtfield) September 29, 2018

Was he, though?

Will.i.am has since hit back at the haters, stating that he was just “sharing the love”.

Sharing on socials isn’t checking phone mid song…that’s me being a performer & camera man showing the world how Awesome Australia is…I wanted the world to see Australia from my point of view…& that POV is awesome & lovely…sorry if I offended anyone by sharing my love https://t.co/kLeUtOenmF

— will.i.am (@iamwill) September 29, 2018

Oh.

In another tweet, he added:

“Fact is: being on the phone during a performance isn’t worse than what’s actually happening in the world …”

Well…yeah, will.i.am, we get that, but you could say that about a lot of things.

The fact that my Uber eats order was cold when it arrived this afternoon? Infuriating. But not the worst thing to happen in the world.

The fact that I ate all the food I prepped for lunches this week when I came home tipsy last night? Very upsetting. Not the worst thing happening in the world.

You get the idea.

Aside from all that, we still haven’t answered one very important question about the performance: where was Fergie? #findfergie2018