Molly Meldrum’s bizarre explanation for flashing at Elton John concert

Molly Meldrum has offered a public apology for his bum-baring antics at Friday’s Elton John show – but his excuse is a head-scratcher.

Ian “Molly” Meldrum has offered a public apology for his onstage antics at Sir Elton John’s Melbourne concert on Friday night – while blaming the rather deliberate-looking wardrobe malfunction on a faulty belt.

Legendary presenter and music critic Meldrum was in the audience for Elton’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour when the star paid tribute to him, dubbing him a “national treasure” and thanking him for his “love and loyalty” over the years.

Molly drops trou’.

Molly and Elton onstage.

Meldrum then appeared onstage, standing next to Elton at the piano as he performed The Bitch Is Back – before shocking the audience by dropping his trousers and baring his buttocks.

Photos and video of the incident circulated widely on social media over the weekend, with many horrified at 79-year-old Meldrum’s behaviour.

Speaking to the Herald Sun, he explained that Elton had no idea he would join him onstage.

“I feel terrible if any of the security people get in trouble. The whole thing was 100 per cent my idea – no one else knew what I was doing. Elton might have been singing The Bitch Is Back but it was more a case of The Idiot is Back,” he told the outlet.

Molly arrives at AAMI park before the pants-dropping incident. Picture: Ian Currie

And confusingly Meldrum, who could be seen in audience footage of the incident lowering his pants before pulling up his jacket to expose his bare bum to the crowd, insisted the whole revealing incident was nothing more than the result of a broken belt.

“I shouldn’t have crashed Elton’s show. As for my performance being more revealing than it should have been … well, at the start of the night, my belt buckle broke and my pants were already falling down. And on stage, one thing led to another,” he told the Herald Sun, dubbing himself “a naughty boy, who needs a new belt.”

Meldrum and John’s friendship stretched back decades, with regular interviews and catch-ups when the Rocket Man music legend visited our shores – however, the pair hit a well-documented rough patch in 2012, after Meldrum interviewed his friend for Seven’s Sunday Night program.

The interview included footage of the singer dissing Madonna as a “nightmare” and “fairground stripper” – comments he insisted were private and were never meant to air. He then refused to talk to Meldrum for several years before the pair finally patched things up again in 2019.