German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has shared an image poking fun at himself after taking a tumble and grazing his face while out jogging. The injury forced him to cancel an appearance at an event on Sunday.
The photo, which the chancellor posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, shows him with visible bruises on his face and an eye patch. It was accompanied by a German proverb that roughly translates as “the laugh is always on the loser.”
The German leader said he was “excited” to see memes of himself with the patch, adding that it “looks worse than it is” and thanking well-wishers.
On Saturday, a German government spokesperson announced that the chancellor would not be attending a regional election event in the town of Heringen on Sunday due to a sports mishap. The spokesperson hastened to add that the injury was not severe and would not affect Scholz’s schedule for this week.
Michael Roth, a Social-Democratic MP in the Bundestag and long-time friend of Scholz, stated that the “chancellor had a sports accident on Saturday, he is not feeling too well, unfortunately, all events must be canceled, his visit to Heringen as well.”
Scholz was due to appear at a citizens' dialogue event at which 130 people were to be in attendance. According to media reports, it was Roth who had invited the chancellor to Heringen.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Scholz is slated to give a speech at the IAA Mobility international automobile exhibition in Munich. The following day, he is to make an appearance in the Bundestag for a debate, with a trip to New Delhi, India for the G20 summit planned for Friday.