BERLIN (Reuters) – Former “Baywatch” TV star David Hasselhoff is appearing in a video released by the German health ministry calling on people to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The video makes a play on Hasselhoff’s 1989 “Looking for Freedom” album, which was popular in Germany after its title song become a soundtrack for the fall of the Berlin Wall.
“Aermel hoch! (“Sleeves up!”), Hasselhoff says in German in the video released on Monday that had already been viewed on Twitter almost 200,000 times by Wednesday.
“I, David Hasselhoff, am supposedly a hero because of ‘Baywatch’ and ‘Knight Rider,’ and the Berlin Wall. But I found freedom with vaccination. You can too!” he says in the video in which he pulls up his sleeve to show a vaccine bandage.
The video has been mocked by some Germans as many people are still waiting to get an appointment for a vaccine.
After a sluggish start to its vaccination rollout, Germany has increased the pace of inoculations and nationwide lockdown measures are gradually being lifted. About 47% of the population has now received at least one dose.
Hasselhoff is best known as the star of 1980s TV series “Knight Rider” about a crime fighter with a high-tech car, and the 1990s show “Baywatch” about lifeguards. He was also a judge on “America’s Got Talent”.
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
