Robin Thicke Performs Controversial "Blurred Lines" Song at AmFAR's Gala Event in Hong Kong

Robin Thicke, 38, was the guest and main performer at the 2015 amfAR (The Foundation for Aids Research) gala at Shaw Studios in Hong Kong for its first-ever charity event and auction on Saturday. He did a set of well-known Al Green and Michael Jackson songs and ended the evening with an energetic performance of Blurred Lines, the controversial song he claims he wrote with Pharrell Williams that last week was adjudged by a Los Angeles court to have been copied from Marvin Gaye's 1977 song Got to Give It Up.

On March 10, an eight-person jury after deliberating for two days unanimously agreed that Thicke and Williams should pay $7.3 million to the family of the late Marvin Gaye for copyright infringement. The jury determined that the infringement was not willful, but also not innocent.

The last time Thicke did a live public performance of Blurred Lines was during his duet with Miley Cyrus at the 2013 MTV Music Awards. Cyrus poked his crotch then with a giant foam rubber finger then danced in a manner that has now come to be called "twerking." That Blurred Lines performance became the most tweeted about event in history, having generated about 360,000 tweets per minute.

Blurred Lines was no. 1 on the Billboard single charts for 10 consecutive weeks and has earned nearly $16.5 million in profits since it was released in 2013. However, both the lyrics of the song and its accompanying video, one version of which shows models Emily Ratajkowski, Elle Evans and Jessi M'Bengue cavorting topless with Thicke and his fellow performers, have been thrashed by a number of critics for being too crass and chauvinistic.

Gwyneth Paltrow was honorary chairperson for Saturday's amfAR gala event. In her welcoming remarks, she said: "This is the first amfAR gala in Hong Kong, and it's long overdue. A global epidemic requires a global response."  Celebrity auctioneer Simon de Pury took charge of the bidding for the items on the auction block, which included art pieces by Mr. Brainwash, Robert Rauschenberg, Alex Prager and Chinese artist Jia Aili. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the most coveted item in the lot was for a set of four tickets to Leonardo DiCarpio's upcoming fundraiser in St. Tropez which will include spending some time with him on his yacht. It reportedly went for $1 million. Overall, said the entertainment news site, the evening's take reached more than $4 million.