On the eve of the opening of the Invictus Games for war-disabled veterans, film star Til Schweiger called on his followers on Instagram to attend the competition in Düsseldorf.
“Please everyone come by and support the athletes from 21 countries – they deserve it,” he says into the cell phone camera. He also promises “great competitions”, “a great international show program” and “the best thing is, entry is free”.
“Invictus Games: Team Germany” commented on his post: “Wow, thank you Til! That means a lot to us.” But most of the comments revolve around another topic, namely Til Schweiger’s appearance in the clip. While many fans are very worried, others criticize these very comments as body shaming.
The worried to shocked posts read something like: “Dear Til, are you okay?”, “Til, you don’t look good, what’s wrong with you?”, “You don’t look so fit,” “You look frightening, eh 65 years or older, everything is fine with you”, “In a word: frightening
Such and similar comments are also sharply criticized under the post: “Subterranean, the comments. He shows himself as he is. I’m not a fan of Schweiger. But I don’t have anything against him either. The comments are ridiculous. But what do you want from people “We’re all getting older,” writes one user.
Another added: “That’s what I thought when I read many of the comments here. Til Schweiger is commenting on a really good thing here, everything else is his private matter…”
Also to be read: “There are days when you don’t always shine and look like you’re licked. And the fact that he shows himself like that sometimes is completely okay. You don’t have to interpret anything into that. He has my sympathy, either way everything for his commitment.” Or: “Finally someone without a filter.”
The Invictus Games, founded by Prince Harry in 2014, will take place from September 9th to 16th in Düsseldorf’s Merkur Spiel-Arena. Around 500 competitors from 21 nations will take part.
They compete in the ten disciplines of table tennis, archery, athletics, indoor rowing, bench press, sitting volleyball, swimming, cycling, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby.
