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.
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.
'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.
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.
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.
The angry reaction prompted the Mercedes driver to delete the story and offer a rather weak rebuttal in a separate post.
"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.
"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.
"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 importantly 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.
"Sending you positivity".
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