Monday, April 19, 2021
Bizarre contribution reverberates
Weghorst defends himself: “I’m not a corona denier”
In December, Wolfsburg’s star striker Wout Weghorst caused great excitement. On Instagram, he shares the post of a vaccination opponent. At last he tries to explain himself in the gym, which fails. Now the Dutchman is trying again to limit the damage.
A week after his much-criticized appearance in the ZDF “Sportstudio”, striker Wout Weghorst from VfL Wolfsburg clearly distanced himself from the charge of corona denial. “I would like to say very clearly: I am not a corona denier. People around the world died from it, which is shocking,” said the Dutchman in an interview with NDR television on Sunday evening. “The way I am formulating it now, I should have done it directly. The questions surprised me. And it is not my own mother tongue. Accordingly, I have thought about it a lot over the last few days and can now express myself better.”
The background to all the excitement is an Instagram post by Weghorst that was shared by Weghorst in December and later deleted again, from which the 28-year-old in the ZDF “Sportstudio” did not distance himself in terms of content, even when asked. The post it said at the time: “Imagine there is a vaccine that is so safe that you have to be threatened to take it – for a disease that is so deadly that you have to be tested in order to know you have it. “
Weghorst was first asked to talk to Wolfsburg sports director Jörg Schmadtke last week. For the Bundesliga club, the matter is off the table. The striker himself wanted to explain himself again publicly. “Right after the broadcast on Saturday evening I had the feeling: Did I have the right words, did I say the right thing?”, Weghorst told NDR. “Then I saw everything over the next few days, on the Internet and on Instagram and a lot was said about it in Holland too. And then I’m not one who leaves it indifferent.”
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