French DJ and producer Martin Solveig has earned the ire of sports fans, feminists and Francophones across the internet after he asked Ada Hegerberg, the first female winner of the Ballon d'Or, to twerk on stage. Hegerberg responded "no" before immediately walking off camera. Solveig has posted an apology video to social media.

For more than 60 years, the Ballon d'Or (or "golden ball") has been awarded to the best male soccer player in the world. This year marked the first female category for the trophy. Hegerberg, who plays for France's Olympique Lyonnais, took the prize from a pool of 15 nominees. A video shared online of the reception incudes audio of Solveig's ask, in French. In his apology, Solveig blames "a distortion of my English level."

"I’m a little bit amazed as to what I’m reading on the internet," he says. "I of course didn’t want to often anyone. This comes from a distortion of my English level and my English cultural level, which is obviously not enough, because I didn’t mean to offend anyone, and I didn’t know that this could be seen as such an offense, especially if you consider the sequence in total when we ended up dancing (to) Frank Sinatra; Ada and myself. This was a joke, probably a bad one, and I want to apologize."

He has since published a second apology, explaining in greater detail the situation surrounding the comment, adding that he and Hegerberg later danced together to Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me To The Moon" as part of the award ceremony program and that Hegerberg has acknowledged that she understood Solveig' joke. "I wish for the focus to be shifted back to celebration Ada Hegerberg becoming the first woman to be awarded the Ballon d'Or."

Solveig is famous for hits including "Hello" featuring Dragonette, "Intoxicated" with GTA and more. Solveig and his team have declined further comment. Billboard Dance has reached out to Hegerberg's team for comment. See a clip of the event and Solveig's apologies below.

Martin Solveig really asked Ada Hegerberg, the first ever Ballon D'Or winner, to twerk. The absolute disrespect bruh. pic.twitter.com/Mtc5DBjS7a — A West (@ayyy_west) December 3, 2018

Sincere apologies to the one I may have offended. My point was : I don’t invite women to twerk but dance on a Sinatra song. Watch the full sequence People who have followed me for 20 years know how respectful I am especially with women pic.twitter.com/pnZX8qvl4R — Martin Solveig (@martinsolveig) December 3, 2018