Famous Soccer Coach Schools Journalist on Ridiculous Coronavirus Reporting
Jurgen Klopp, famed manager of Liverpool FC, dismissed a question about the coronavirus outbreak this week and told a reporter that the opinions of celebrities are irrelevant.
Klopp was answering questions at a news conference Tuesday following his team’s FA Cup loss to Chelsea, according to CNN, when a reporter asked him a question about the virus.
“Are you worried as a team, as a club, about the spread of [coronavirus] or how it might affect you?” the unidentified reporter asked.
The German was blunt, telling the reporter that not only does he consider his own opinion on the matter irrelevant, he believes celebrities are not qualified to answer questions relating to public health or politics, simply because they are famous.
“What I don’t like in life is that a very serious thing, a football manager’s opinion is important,” Klopp said. “I don’t understand it. I really don’t understand it.
“I can ask you, you’re in exactly the same role that I am.”
“It’s not important what famous people say,” he continued. “No, we have to speak about things in the right manner, not people with no knowledge, like me, talking about something.
“People with knowledge should talk about it and tell people to do this, do that, do this, and everything will be fine — or not. Not football managers, I don’t understand that.”
Klopp concluded: “Politics, coronavirus, why me? I wear a base cap and have a bad shave.”
The question from the reporter comes at a time when many are concerned about the spread of the virus and apprehensive about attending public gatherings.
As of Thursday, more than 93,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported globally and more than 3,200 people have died from the disease, CBS News reported.
Klopp took the correct approach to the reporter’s question. Why should the soccer manager answer him and risk creating more panic and uncertainty?
More importantly, why would a reporter ask such a foolish question?
A soccer coach is not a virologist anymore than a film star is an expert on foreign policy.
A great many celebrities seem to be under the impression that their achievements or wealth have made them omnipotent. It is refreshing to see a person in the spotlight defer an important question to the experts by essentially saying, “I don’t have the answers.”
If only Hollywood could grasp the concept that its constant ramblings about politics and the environment are irrelevant to a majority of people.
Comedian Ricky Gervais laid into Hollywood celebrities for their constant hectoring of everyday people during his opening monologue at the Golden Globe Awards in January.
“So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech,” he said. “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything.”
“You know nothing about the real world,” Gervais added.
If the year 2020 has given us anything so far, it is that we have had two people in a position of relative social power remind their peers that they are not the oracles of wisdom.
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