to minimise or ignore something negative

soft-pedal = etw. runterspielen

While both Paris and Berlin are seeking to SOFT-PEDAL the dispute, it has nevertheless emerged as an important complication for European Commission President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker.

(MNI news portal)

---Back in the day, Oscar Pistorius took every opportunity in public to SOFT-PEDAL his disability.

(Eyewitness News, South Africa)