Topline
The viral German soccer fan known only as “Freddy” who drew both adoration and scrutiny over his intentions during his fawning trip to the U.S. for the FIFA World Cup reactivated his X account on Monday, weeks after leaving the social media app after widespread accusations he was part of a “psyop.”
A German soccer fan documenting his trip across the U.S. for the FIFA World Cup reactivated his social media account after earlier criticism.
FIFA via Getty Images
Key Facts
In a lengthy post on X, the anonymous soccer fan who uses a photo of Cristiano Ronaldo as a profile picture said he deactivated his account two weeks ago following “increasingly toxic” treatment after online users combed through his past social media presence.
However, he reactivated his account and resumed documenting his trip in Clemson, South Carolina, because an “overwhelming majority of people loved following along.”
“Freddy” also admitted this was not his first time visiting the U.S., emphasizing he “never claimed that it was,” but said he was reacting with wonder to places that were “very different” from the tourist hubs he previously visited.
Freddy’s account was one of the biggest viral success stories during the World Cup, and his return announcement already garnered 4.2 million views as of 4:50 p.m. EDT, just over three hours after he posted.
Key Background
In the early days of the World Cup’s group round, Freddy posted countless images of common American fast food restaurants like Taco Bell and Wendy’s. He showered establishments like Waffle House with praise, and reacted with shock to a line of gas pumps at a Buc-ee’s. Freddy’s account took off from there, attracting celebrities and public officials eager to apparently show him a good time in the U.S.—the Houston Police Department posed for photos with him and his group, later showering him with gifts. He got a private tour of NASA Mission Control with astronaut Anne McClain. Former Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt welcomed him to Houston, while country singer Ella Langley posed for a photo with him (with his face covered) after Freddy called her “the soundtrack of our trip.” It even led to an invitation to tour the White House from Nick Adams, the Trump administration’s special presidential envoy for tourism (Freddy did not respond to a DM asking about further information on this trip).
CHIEF CRITICS
The rapid succession of celebrity endorsements and Freddy’s breathless praise for seemingly banal aspects of American life led some commenters on social media to accuse him not being what he seems. The German fan deactivated his X account later in June. “Too many people seem to have a problem with us having a genuinely good time here … this is ruining the fun a bit for us because we really just wanted to document our roadtrip and never expected that people would have a problem with it,” Freddy wrote on an Instagram story after deactivating his X profile.
Further Reading
The Feel-Good Story of the World Cup Is Too Good to Be True (The Atlantic)