The controversy surrounding Virat Kohli’s alleged Instagram ‘like’ took a dramatic turn after German model LizLaz made an explosive claim that she was offered money to speak negatively about the Indian cricketing icon and make false allegations. LizLaz had unexpectedly come under the spotlight after Kohli’s Instagram account appeared to “like” one of her posts, triggering widespread discussion and speculation across social media platforms.
The influencer and singer said in an interview with Filmymantra Media, whose clips went viral on social media on Tuesday, that she was convinced by a few journalists to make false statements about Kohli and publicly target him, and was even offered money to make those allegations.
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She said: “Some journalists even offered me money to say bad things about him (Virat Kohli) and make allegations about things he never did. But why would I do that?”
LizLaz said that Kohli is one of her favourite cricketers and that she had no intention of damaging his reputation for “publicity” or for financial gains.
Recalling the incident, LizLaz said she did not even notice it until she started receiving calls about it. “I found out because people started calling me. I didn’t even see it in my notifications,” she said.
She also mentioned how her social media was flooded with messages and she became the centre of every online discussion. “I opened Google and there were pages and pages about me. It felt very unreal,” she added.
The most interesting part was, however, around how different the conversation was in Germany to that in India. “In India people were asking, ‘Who is Lizlaz?’ But in Germany, the headlines were asking, ‘Who is Virat Kohli?’ because cricket is not very popular there,” she joked.
Kohli is currently in the midst of the IPL 2026 season with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He was among the contenders for the Orange Cap this time, until he slipped out of reckoning after being dismissed for a duck on two consecutive occasions, which happened only for the second time in his IPL career. He has scored 379 runs for the RCB in 2026, in 11 innings, laced with three fifties.