Lewis Hamilton has clarified his stance on a controversial anti-vaxxer post he shared on Instagram and which was met by a barrage of criticism on social media.<\/p>\n
Hamilton shared a post from content creator ‘King Bach’ who embedded a video in which Microsoft founder Bill Gates comments in an interview with CBSN on the progress achieved to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n
‘King Bach’ posted and commented on the video, saying “I remember when I told my first lie”, a clear dig at the billionaire’s vaccine funding efforts conducted through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.<\/p>\n
Hamilton then shared the thinly veiled anti-vaxxer conspiracy theory post with his over 18 million followers on Instagram, as if to endorse the message.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, within an hour, the six-time world champion got his money’s worth of views of the Instagram story, but also a heavy condemnation from fans and followers.<\/p>\n
The angry reaction prompted the Mercedes driver to delete the story and offer a rather weak rebuttal in a separate post.<\/p>\n
“Hi guys,” wrote Hamilton. “I’ve noticed some comments on my earlier post around the coronavirus vaccine, and want to clarify my thoughts on it, as I understand why they might have been misinterpreted.<\/p>\n
“Firstly, I hasn’t actually seen the comment [‘I remember my first lie’] attached so that is totally my fault and I have a lot of respect for the charity work Bill Gates does.<\/p>\n
“I also want to be clear that I’m not against a vaccine and no doubt it will be important in the fight against coronavirus, and I’m hopeful for its development to help save lives.<\/p>\n
“However after watching the video, I felt it showed that there is still a lot of uncertainty about the side effects most importantly and how it is going to be funded.<\/p>\n
“I may not always get my posting right, I’m only human but I’m learning as we go.<\/p>\n
“Sending you positivity”.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n