Rod Stewart clarifies 'mock execution' video: We were playing Game of Thrones

Musician can be seen appearing to make a cutting gesture across a friend’s neck as he kneels on the sand

Sir Rod Stewart’s wife Penny Lancaster has shared a video of the musician that first appeared to mimic an Isis execution in the Abu Dhabi desert.

In the bizarre footage, the 72-year-old can be seen appearing to make a cutting gesture across a friend’s neck as he kneels on the sand.

The clip, which was posted on Lancaster’s Instagram page but has now been deleted, begins by showing a group of people trekking across the sand dunes in a line. It then shows them frolicking in the dunes, trying to balance and rolling down the slope.

Sir Rod, dressed in a white shirt and sunglasses, can then be glimpsed talking to another man who kneels in front of him. Placing his hands on the unknown man’s shoulders, he appears to make a cutting motion across his throat.

The singer has apologised for his actions and insisted he was just “larking” about before his performance at an arena concert in the capital of the United Arab Emirates and reenacting a Game of Thrones scene.

"From re-enacting the Beatles' Abbey Road crossing to spontaneously playing out Game Of Thrones, we were simply larking about pre-show,” Sir Rod said in a statement sent to The Independent.

"Understandably, this has been misinterpreted and I send my deepest apologies to those who have been offended.”

Sir Rod has garnered criticism for his actions which have been labelled “deeply stupid” and “clueless” on Twitter.

Executions carried out by Islamic State militants have often gained headlines.

Aid worker David Haines, 44, was the first Briton beheaded by Islamic state in a video which featured Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwait-born Briton as known as “Jihadi John”. Mr Emwazi appeared in a succession of grim online videos in which Western hostages are beheaded.