Richard Ashcroft appeared on the Sky Sports program Soccer AM earlier today to promote his forthcoming album Natural Rebel which is released October 19th. Ashcroft chatted it up with the hosts and played a lovely acoustic version of his new single "Surprised By The Joy."
Beautiful acoustic performance of Surprised by the Joy pic.twitter.com/QlrZrUCYWr— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) September 22, 2018
Minutes after the show aired, controversy erupted on social media when a few fans noticed a mysterious package fell out of Ashcroft's pantleg during his appearance.
Guessing the drugs still don't work? #SoccerAm pic.twitter.com/B7re0y1sxr— Drew (@DrewWoodburn) September 22, 2018
Viewers jumped to conclusions and assumed it was drugs; Ashcroft wasn't amused. He posted a somewhat aggro video response lashing out at "trolls on Twitter" stating:
"Cocaine and I have had no relationship for decades...don't you ever surmise what's fallen out of my pocket...you're on thin ice, don't libel my name."
Ashcroft insisted the mysterious package was merely paper or "litter" and revealed:
"In the Verve I was known as Columbo, so get your facts straight."
Ashcroft ended up deleting his video, but not before a fan account made a copy of it. Ashcroft later posted a fan's screenshot of the incident along with his own lighthearted response to the drama.
Check out his posting along with a few interview clips from Soccer AM below.
Ha 635k thousand people watched some paper fall out of my trousers ha😂 should have done this for my video 🔙🔛🔝®️🅰️✌️ https://t.co/L0wHW36TOG pic.twitter.com/fSlvJRRqEx— Richard Ashcroft (@richardashcroft) September 23, 2018
The legend Richard Ashcroft gets passionate about people switching off X-Factor and picking up an instrument instead. 👍 pic.twitter.com/k0TOyXLFCZ— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) September 22, 2018
Richard Ashcroft will be front and centre for the AJ fight tonight. 🥊— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) September 22, 2018
"The ringside seats need to up their game!" 🤣 pic.twitter.com/rCsgQsrqsW
Published September 22nd, 2018
