Lukas Podolski is talking to his lawyer after a photo of the former Germany international on a jet ski was used in a Bretibart story about illegal immigration.
The story, with the headline: “Spanish Police Crack Gang Moving Migrants on Jet-Skis”, used a picture taken of Podolski.
While the striker was on a jet ski in the photo, the picture was taken during an off day for the German national team during their successful 2014 World Cup in Brazil and had nothing to do with illegal immigration.
Breitbart eventually replaced the photo and apologised to Podolski, releasing an editor’s note which read: “A previous version of this story included an image of Lukas Podolski on a jet ski. This image appeared as an illustration of a person on a jet ski. Breitbart London wishes to apologise to Mr Podolski.”
Uh, Breitbart? That's Lukas Podolski. German footballer. Won the World Cup in 2014. pic.twitter.com/gJPH55nrh8
— DSA Uranus (@InnerPartisan) August 20, 2017
“There is no evidence Mr Podolski is either a migrant gang member, nor being human trafficked. We wish Mr Podolski well in his recently announced international retirement.”
However, that may not be enough for Podolski, whose representative Nassim Touihi told Bild: “Lukas distances himself from it and won’t let himself be exploited. Our lawyer is already involved.”
The story had already been widely shared before the apology was issued, though it is unclear how much of that was due to people checking out the widely publicized error.
The 32-year-old Polish-born striker is currently in his first year with Vissel Kobe of the J-League in Japan. He previously featured for Bayern Munich, Cologne, Arsenal, Inter Milan and Galatasaray.
Podolski retired from the German national team in March.