For Xavier Naidoo (48) there is no chance of returning to "Deutschland sucht den Superstar". The singer was excluded from the RTL casting show jury. A video of the singer had previously appeared on the Internet, in which he apparently sings about alleged dangers posed by migrants. RTL had asked Naidoo to "comment extensively". According to the broadcaster, this did not happen.
"Xavier Naidoo has not yet responded to our offer to explain his misleading and contradicting statements plausibly," said RTL when asked by spot on news. "We can see from the many reactions that the topic is moving, so we would have liked an immediate, public discussion with him. That is for us freedom of expression. But that did not happen. Therefore he will not return to 'DSDS' give." On Saturday (March 14th), Pietro Lombardi (27), Oana Nechiti (32) and Dieter Bohlen (66) will form the jury in three, RTL announced. The broadcaster has not yet announced what the other live shows will look like.
New in the live shows
"DSDS" also features a new feature in the live shows, with the exception of the finale: it is planned that each judge will have a golden CD that has a five percent share of the vote and will count towards the audience voting. However, the five percent of the missing fourth jury member are now eliminated. In addition, RTL announced that it would reduce the number of spectators in the studio from 1,700 to 800 due to the danger of corona.
In a statement to Xavier Naidoo by Jörg Graf, the managing director of RTL, it said on Wednesday (March 11th): "RTL stands for diversity in the program. We are advocates of freedom of expression. But this also means that we have all forms of racism and strongly reject extremism. The videos of Xavier Naidoo that have just appeared have irritated us enormously. So far, our request to discuss and explain his statements in dialogue and live on RTL personally and publicly has remained unanswered. We find this discussion particularly important, because for us the statements in the video and the comments afterwards don't match at all. "
After the video, which is said to have been made in 2018, caused a lot of stir on the internet, Naidoo had its say on Wednesday (March 11). In a statement, which he published on Instagram, among others, it can be read that he would "very decisively" reject the allegations. "For years I have been fighting against exclusion and racial hatred out of deep conviction. Love and respect are the only way for social interaction."