Olaf Scholz and his eye patch: This is how the net enjoys itself

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Scholz memes

Photograph:

Twitter / The Postillon

Official pictures of Olaf Scholz and he's not wearing a suit? That alone would be newsworthy. What was it like in February last year, when the chancellor gave a speech on a flight to Washington in an oversized sweater? Scholz's casual look dominated the headlines for days, the pictures haunted the net and became the basis of numerous memes.

Almost a year and a half later, the appearance of the chancellor is again an issue. This time, however, it is only a fashion accessory to a limited extent: After a sports accident in which Scholz suffered some bruises on his face, he was now photographed with an eye patch. On the right side of his face you can also see bloody scratches, which probably stem from the fall while jogging.

After Scholz had to cancel an appointment planned for Sunday in Hesse due to his injuries, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit announced on Monday morning that the chancellor looked "a bit battered" but was "in a good mood". Scholz then provided the photo evidence a little later via his official channels on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram himself. He wrote: "Whoever has the damage . . . I'm curious about the memes.«

Captain Olaf and his parrot

He should not be disappointed. Within a few minutes, terms such as memes, Scholz or Auge were trending at X and the timeline was filled with photo collages from private users, but also from official (media) accounts.

The most common motif is obvious: Olaf Scholz, the pirate:

Olaf Scholz, the captain – sometimes with a parrot ...

... times without:

The right catchy tune is provided by this user of platform X, who alludes to a song from the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants:

Speaking of catchy tunes: Olaf Scholz is also available as DJ Bobo as of today:

And, of course, as Captain Jack Sparrow from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. Or, as you might call it in this case: "curse of the jogger". Obvious, but no less creative:

It gets even more sophisticated when the jokes move to the local level. As with this allusion to the supposed lioness of Berlin:

Or with the "uniform" of the common Hamburger, which – despite his time as mayor of the Hanseatic city – has not yet been seen on Olaf Scholz:

But, of course, it also became political:

The squabbles in the traffic light government offer the best meme material:

But the biggest coup landed – the name says it all – the Pirate Party. Through the official channels, the party disseminated a folded campaign picture of Olaf Scholz with an eye patch and headlined "We are chancellor!"

Harrr, harrr, harrr!