Recommendations of the Editorial team
Jan Böhmermann’s efforts against the AfD are well known. In his TV shows he has been trying for years to reveal the right-wing extremist ideas of numerous party members or to think through the party’s right-wing populist political projects for his viewers. A few months ago he even wrote in the “New York Times” against Weidel and Co.
Now the “ZDF Magazin Royale” presenter is making it clear once again that the time has come to obtain a party ban, even if the constitutional hurdles are high.
In a detailed Interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” he said: “We’re not wimps! We shouldn’t just look at the urgently needed ban procedure from a fearful perspective: Will it work or not? We should push our backs and say: We, the defensive, courageous Democrats, will of course manage it.”
The 44-year-old also believes that there is a clear majority of the population in favor of this. “This and that may separate us: But together we don’t want Nazis in parliament! That’s the crucial thing!” he said.
Where does Jan Böhmermann want to emigrate to?
However, if the AfD continues to gain support and possibly appoint the chancellor one day, Böhmermann would prefer to leave the country before something happens to him. “My colleagues and I, we public people, we move forward with our faces – and then we get it,” explained the moderator.
When asked where he wanted to emigrate, Böhmermann simply said: “I won’t say, I don’t want to be found.” And further: “Sounds like a joke. It’s not!”
Criticism of the media
In the conversation with “SZ”, the entertainer also described himself as a “radical democrat” and criticized the media for unfiltered publication of right-wing extremist views that can be read on social media. “What happens in the brown hole is then spread unchecked by some media, unscrupulously or without knowledge, and this reporting is then picked up by more established media and played back again. A death spiral.”
Based on his own experiences online (“Twitter diary, 2009-2020”), he called the adoption of quotes and “news” from, for example, X or Instagram “journalism simulation”.