When Grant Wahl suddenly passed away at 49 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar Friday, there was a lot of speculation about what might have happened. Wahl had written and spoken about battling illness, and his brother Eric (seen at left above) initially posted a video saying “I do not believe my brother just died. I believe he was killed” (with this coming after Grant Wahl had been detained by Qatari stadium security for wearing a rainbow shirt (as seen at right above), and after he had received further official blowback for his coverage of worker deaths). Eric Wahl deleted that video not long after posting it, though, and on Tuesday, he fully walked back that claim and said “I no longer suspect foul play”:
The family will release a statement as to cause of death soon. I no longer suspect foul play. It was not PE. https://t.co/OKRV6XEvgL
— Eric Wahl (@ziplamak) December 13, 2022
Eric Wahl has taken a lot of criticism for his initial comments here, including one particularly vile message on Instagram that he shared to Twitter (language warning). He did also further explain that one particular conversation he had with Grant about death threats and a strange man walking into Grant’s house led to his initial suspicions:
Grant said the house he was in looked like many around it & thought maybe the guy had accidentally entered the wrong one. https://t.co/bqS16QLs5C
— Eric Wahl (@ziplamak) December 12, 2022
He did also issue apologies for the suspicions he voiced:
This is not what I thought at all, & I'm very sorry you took it that way. I lived & worked in Ankara, took my honeymoon in Egypt in 2011 directly after the revolution when no one was visiting, & have observed Ramadan in solidarity. I am very sorry if I gave any other impression
— Eric Wahl (@ziplamak) December 13, 2022
I apologize unequivocally. But my initial statement stemmed from 2 things, neither of which related to racism: concerning things Grant told me, and well-known corruption. https://t.co/j5QhTmvAPR
— Eric Wahl (@ziplamak) December 13, 2022
It’s notable to have that update from Eric Wahl now that more details have emerged. There are still some unanswered questions on what exactly happened, and there may still be some further reporting here. But it’s certainly significant to see Eric Wahl walk back that claim of suspecting foul play.
[Eric Wahl on Twitter]
