LizLaz, the German-South African influencer who went viral earlier this year after Virat Kohli ‘liked’ one of her Instagram posts, has now claimed that some journalists offered her money to “throw shade” at the cricketer and falsely suggest he behaved inappropriately. The influencer, who says the controversy also brought her reality show and brand offers, defended Kohli and insisted he “did nothing wrong.”LizLaz offered money to throw shadeA couple of months after the incident blew out of proportion, LizLaz has suggested that a part of the discourse was also manufactured by self-serving media organisations.“Some people also push you to say certain things you don’t want to say. So, there were some journalists who’d offer me money to throw shade at him, to say things he apparently did that he did not,” LizLaz told Filmymantra.Admitting her love for Kohli, who she maintains is her favourite cricketer, the influencer added that she turned down the offers without a thought. “But why would I do this to my favourite cricketer? I’m not like this. But yes, things like these also happen,” she said.‘I don’t think he had any bad intention’She also reacted to the Artificial Intelligence-generated pictures of her and Virat together, which have been doing the rounds online.“For me, it’s quite funny. But for him, it’s not nice because it (liking her post) was never his intention. And he didn’t do anything inappropriate,” maintained LizLaz.She argued that since she’s a travel vlogger, she does a lot of content on India’s culture. Additionally, she also watched the Indian Premier League and is a supporter of his IPL team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). She believes that may be how her content appeared on Kohli’s feed.Story continues below this ad“There’s nothing wrong with this. I don’t think it should be questioned,” said LizLaz, adding, “Virat Kohli is a big icon of India. He’s basically the Messi or Ronaldo of India. So, I think people shouldn’t destroy his name like this. He should be respected. I don’t think he had any bad intention or he was reaching out to me inappropriately. He did nothing wrong,” argued LizLaz.‘Felt I was in my own Black Mirror episode’She recalled the day she found out that Kohli’s like on her post had gone viral. “I woke up one day and felt I was in my own Black Mirror episode,” she said, referring to the popular dystopian show on Netflix. “I was scrolling through the news on Instagram, and I could see only pictures of myself on some big magazines and big podcasts talking about this. Even German and South African media covered this,” she added. She jokingly claimed that Kohli has now become more popular in Germany because of the controversy.LizLaz also lauded Kohli’s star power as right after the controversy, she got offers for reality shows, brand deals, and even offers to promote casinos. But she maintained that she’d take up only those offers which sit well with her values, instead of grabbing every opportunity that comes her way to become more famous and earn more money. She’s glad that it’s also led to a cricket match being played in Germany, where she served as the anchor.Not Kohli’s first viral ‘like’LizLaz isn’t the first celebrity to have gotten a ‘like’ on Instagram by Kohli. Earlier, a similar instance happened with actor Avneet Kaur. That also got blown out of proportion to the extent that Kohli had to issue a statement. “I’d like to clarify that while clearing my feed, it appears the algorithm may have mistakenly registered an interaction. There was absolutely no intent behind it. I request that no unnecessary assumptions be made,” he said.Story continues below this adAlso Read: Two days after becoming CM, Vijay grants ‘special permission’ for 9 am shows of Trisha’s KaruppuKohli is the most followed Indian celebrity on Instagram, with over 274 million followers. His Instagram activity has sparked online discussion on multiple occasions. A couple of years ago, he famously blocked singer Rahul Vadiya, who later claimed that one day, the cricketer began showing up in his feed. There’s no clarity on whether he was actually blocked or it was the Instagram algorithm working its way.