Robbie Williams using hand sanitiser during New Year's Eve performance has become the first meme of 2017

The ex-Take That star was mid-way through singing 'Auld Lang Syne' when he cleansed his hands​

For many, 2016 was a thorough disappointment: Britain voted Brexit, the United States voted Donald Trump their next President, and the world lost David Bowie.

Already, 2017 has proven itself to be an odd one, mainly thanks to musicians messing around. First, there was Mariah Carey who fumbled her last performance of 2016, leading to her name trending worldwide on New Year's day and a response from the singer.

Then, just moments after the clock counted down in the UK, an image of Robbie Williams washing his hands on stage just moments after touching members of his NYE audience has gone viral.

During a rousing performance of “Auld Lang Syne,” televised by the BBC, Williams held hands with his audience, all while looking fairly uncomfortable. When he finally got back on stage, he seemingly went straight for the anti-bacterial hand wash, making a grimacing face while applying it.

While the team choosing which cameras to broadcast did their best job to ignore the situation, focussing instead on the audience, the images were broadcast to the whole UK, quickly becoming a viral sensation.

“Robbie Williams grabbing the hand sanitiser after holding hands with the plebs during Auld Lang Syne is the start to 2017 we all deserve,” wrote one Tweeter of the incident. Another noted: “So sad that we've already had a death in 2017. RIP the career of Robbie Williams.”

Recently, Robbie Williams was joined on stage by other members of Take That - Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, and Mark Owen - videos of which have made their way online. It is unknown whether hand sanitiser was on stage during that performance.