Michael Wendler
RTL cuts him out of "DSDS" after a concentration camp comparison
Michael Wendler will no longer appear in "Deutschland sucht den Superstar".
© imago images / Future Image / C. Hardt
After Michael Wendler's shocking concentration camp comparison, RTL has finally had enough of the singer. The broadcaster removes its scenes from "DSDS".
RTL has finally had enough of Michael Wendler (48). As the broadcaster announced in a press release on Wednesday (January 6th), the pop singer will be cut from the remaining, already wacky episodes of the casting show "Deutschland sucht den Superstar". Wendler had previously claimed that a corona protective measure set by the federal and state governments on Tuesday (January 5) would create conditions similar to those in concentration camps.
He crossed a red line
The broadcaster declared that it would "clearly and unambiguously distance itself from Michael Wender's current statements", "in which he puts the lockdown measures laid down yesterday (…) in a national-socialist context". RTL managing director Jörg Graf (54) said: "We condemn all forms of anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination in the strongest possible way." In times when it comes to "mastering a serious crisis through social cohesion, mutual consideration and respect", RTL will "not be the stage for people who, for their part, propagate division and trivialization".
RTL spokeswoman Anke Eickmeyer told "Bild" that Wendler had crossed a red line with his comparison. The 48-year-old had written on his channel in the news app Telegram to limit the radius of movement of 15 kilometers for residents of hotspots: "Concentration camp Germany ??? It's just bold what this government is doing! The locking up of free people and innocent people is against all human dignity !!! " He later tried to backtrack in an Instagram story, claiming that "KZ" meant "crisis center".
RTL and Michael Wendler have been going their separate ways since October
RTL and Michael Wendler ended their collaboration last autumn. The pop singer could still be seen in the already wacky 13 casting episodes of "DSDS", the first flickered on the TV screens on Tuesday evening (January 5th). Before the next episode is broadcast on Saturday (January 9th), the responsible production company will remove all scenes with the juror, "even if there are dramaturgical gaps that are visible to the audience," said RTL.