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After Michael Wendler's statement about Germany as “KZ”, RTL cut the controversial pop singer from the casting show “Deutschland sucht den Superstar”.
The station announced this on Wednesday in Cologne.
The media magazine "DWDL" reported on it first.
Wendler will be "immediately taken out of the program" - even if the audience sees "visible, dramaturgical gaps".
"We condemn all forms of anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination in the strongest possible way," said RTL managing director Jörg Graf.
The singer and entertainer had already left the jury of the casting show “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” (“DSDS”) with a scandal in October 2020: Wendler accused the federal government of “gross and serious violations of the constitution” in the Corona crisis .
He also accused television stations - including RTL - of being "synchronized".
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At the time, the station immediately distanced itself from its star and called Wendler a conspiracy theorist.
Terms such as “fake pandemic” and “media censorship” can still be read on Wendler's Instagram channel, and the 48-year-old is still active on the Telegram messenger service.
Michael Wendler should still be seen in the early phase of the current "DSDS" season.
The reason: the consequences had already been recorded.
On Tuesday, however - on the day the first episode of the new "DSDS" season was broadcast - new comments by the singer, who now lives in the USA, made headlines: He compared new contact restrictions in Germany on Telegram (including a 15-kilometer radius around his place of residence) with the operation of concentration camps (KZ).
Criticism of RTL came from “DWLD” on Tuesday: “Michael Wendler compares corona protective measures with concentration camps.
And RTL like this: We give it prime time, without classification or distancing, ”it said on the magazine's Twitter account.
RTL itself initially defended itself with the words: “We will not let a successful show destroy us by a conspiracy theorist.
The 13 casting episodes were shot before Michael Wendler made his strange statements.
After the casting episodes, he no longer plays a role - neither on 'DSDS' nor on RTL. "
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Numerous critical voices gathered under the tweet.
“I really missed a serious classification.
The bottom line is that you like to take the outcry for the quotas with you, but ignore the seriousness of the situation, "writes @Fabssomat.
“But you could have pointed it out several times in the program.
Or before and after the show.
Where's the problem? ”Asks @ MediaFreak7.
Others demand the aforementioned total waiver: "A shame that this program is broadcast at all," so @NiemalsD.
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The singer's tasteless concentration camp comparison reached politics on Wednesday.
The "Bild" newspaper quoted Hesse's anti-Semitism commissioner Uwe Becker (CDU) as saying: "Pop singer Michael Wendler does not belong on television with his Holocaust relativization and crude conspiracy theories.
With his most recent derailment to comment on the current corona rules, he has finally disqualified himself.
Anyone who equates the necessary measures to contain the corona pandemic in Germany with a concentration camp and thus relativizes the Shoah in such a way should not be presented as a juror to an audience of millions from week to week.
The justification given by RTL for castings that have already been shot is not enough. "
The NRW anti-Semitism commissioner Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger criticized the statements of the pop singer.
"The excitement about Michael Wendler's appearances on 'DSDS' give him and his crude conspiracy myths even more attention," she told the dpa news agency.
RTL should check how it meets its responsibilities.
"Michael Wendler's statements move in the area of the Holocaust relativization.
This serious case must also be dealt with with appropriate seriousness at the station. "
RTL wanted to "save" the "DSDS" episodes first
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The first episode "DSDS" of the new season showed how RTL had initially tried to save the consequences by changing the editing techniques and humorous recordings in a kind of humorous damage limitation.
The station apparently wanted to distance itself from its protagonist through jokes, glee or the broadcast of particularly unfavorable scenes - but sometimes caused the opposite with the fans and observers of the show: the station was criticized on Twitter and Facebook and a clearer distancing, sometimes even a broadcast stop of the high-quota format called for.
Others criticized the changes as ridiculous and inconsequential.
For example, it was possible to see how a jury comment from Wendler was played in fast forward, his jury colleague Mike Singer was shown yawning.
Elsewhere, the pop singer (“She loves the DJ”), who now lives in Florida, said that you couldn't compare the Everglades with the Rhine, “but at least you won't be eaten by crocodiles here”.
An off-speaker added dryly: "They don't take everyone either."
Other places were supplemented by clips.
When a candidate said she didn't have a job and lived off her parents, chief juror Dieter Bohlen said: “People turn on the television or watch YouTube.
They see: Everyone is celebrating, driving a Lamborghini, throwing the money out. ”Then photos of Wendler were faded in - with a motorcycle, in front of a boat, with a big cigar.
When another candidate said she was 18 years old, Wendler made a note of something.
A fictitious checklist was displayed: "Female", "2 legs", "18".
Obviously a reference to Wendler's much younger wife Laura, now 20.
Good odds and a crooked clarification
The singer himself has now distanced himself from the controversial concentration camp comparison, according to “Bild” in a new Instagram post: by “KZ” he just meant “crisis center”, it said.
RTL pulled the ripcord on Wednesday.
The ratings for the fresh season of "DSDS" remained at a high level.
Of the 14- to 49-year-olds, 1.38 million (16.0 percent) watched the RTL casting from 8.30 p.m.
In the total audience, the show reached 3.25 million (10.7 percent) viewers.
According to "DWDL", the second episode of the season is to be broadcast as planned next Saturday evening, despite the necessary post-production - without Michael Wendler appearing.