“I look forward to the memes. It is with humor and self-mockery that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who injured his face while jogging, posted a photo of himself wearing an eye patch on Monday. The leader shared his unusual appearance by posting on X (ex-Twitter) a photo of him, smiling and in a suit, but wearing a black eye patch on his right eye, around which scratches are visible. His post sparked a flood of get-well wishes and amused comments on social media about his pirate looks.
Who has the damage… I’m curious about the memes. Thanks for the well wishes, looks worse than it is! pic.twitter.com/bB5INX8HnM
On Monday evening, he made his first official outing with this new accessory, at the annual St Michael’s reception organized by the Catholic Church in Berlin. The photo was posted so “everyone can get used to what it will look like for one to two weeks,” spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said earlier at a regular press conference.
Olaf Scholz suffered a slight facial injury when he fell while jogging on Sunday, which forced him to cancel his commitments for the day. “Thank you for the well wishes, it looks worse than it is,” he wrote under the photo posted on his official account. According to popular newspaper Bild, the eye patch conceals his badly swollen right eye, but the medical examination revealed no further damage.
Healing wishes poured in in response to this post, mingled with countless memes many of which compare him to a pirate. By evening, his tweet had over 31,000 likes, over 6,000 replies and some 4 million views. Despite his injury, Mr. Scholz, who has been running regularly for several years, is in good shape, assured his spokesman.
He also planned to honor his next appointments, including a visit to the IAA motor show in Munich on Tuesday and a speech in Parliament on Wednesday. “He is doing well given the circumstances,” Mr. Hebestreit said. “He was in good spirits this morning, although he still looks a little beat up,” he added.