‘Excited to see the memes’ – German chancellor Olaf Scholz jokes after posting eye patch photo following injury he sustained while jogging

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has  photo of himself wearing an eyepatch after injuring his face while jogging.

The chancellor posted a picture of him with a patch that seemed to be covering dark-red bruises on the right side of his face on X on Monday, September 4.

The German government explained Mr Scholz fell while jogging on Saturday and sustained bruises to his face, prompting him to cancel some appointments at the weekend.

“Thanks for the well wishes, it looks worse than it is!” Mr Scholz wrote underneath the photo, dispelling any fears about his health.  

Quickly, social media users began comparing the 65-year-old leader to fictional pirates including Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and the painting of a pirate used within the opening sequence of children’s cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants.

The chancellor’s spokesperson reacting to the accident said;

“He was in quite a good mood this morning, but still looks a bit battered,” Steffen Hebestreit said, adding that the photo was published “so that everyone can get used to how he will look in the next week or two.”