F1 champion Hamilton clarifies controversial coronavirus anti-vax post

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has moved to clarify a deleted post on his Instagram after sharing an anti-vaccination  conspiracy video that triggered criticism.

Hamilton received backlash from fans on Monday after he shared a video by internet personality Andrew Batchelor that called Bill Gates a lair following an interview he conducted in America about the COVID-19 vaccine his foundation is helping to fund.

Canadian-Amercian content creator ‘King Batch’ captioned the video with “I remember when I told my first lie”, which Hamilton shared on his own Instagram story to his 18.3million followers.

The six-times F1 world champion, who has urged his followers to respect COVID-19 safety guidelines throughout the pandemic, denied that he is against the production and distribution of a coronavirus vaccine and held his hands up for not noticing the comment attached to the post he shared.

“I’ve noticed some comments on my earlier post around the coronavirus vaccine, and wanted to clarify my thoughts on it, as I understand why they might have been misinterpreted,” Hamilton wrote on his Instagram account.

“First, I hadn’t actually seen the comment attached so that is totally my fault and I have a lot of respect for the charity work Bill Gates does.

“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.

“However after watching the video, I felt it showed that there is still a lot of uncertainty about the side effects most important and how it is going to be funded.

“I may not always get my posting right, I’m only human but I’m learning as we go.”