The issue of language sensitivity divides society. Heino expresses his specific attitude to the gender debate on Tuesday morning (September 19th) on Sat.1 “Breakfast Television”. The pop singer was actually supposed to promote his new album “Songs of My Homeland,” but the topic quickly swung in a completely different direction and ultimately earned the musician a lot of criticism.
Heino told presenter Matthias Killing that he generally doesn’t believe in gender. “So people who want something like that have their brains shitted on. Just as we would say in the Rhineland. “I’m not behind it at all,” the singer makes his point of view clear. And the 84-year-old doesn’t miss out on well-known terms either. “I will continue to sing ‘Funny is the gypsy life’. I won’t let anyone stop me from doing this. This is cultural property. I made it popular again in the sixties. “It should stay that way,” defends the musician in the interview.
Heino’s manager Helmut Werner adds to “Express.de” that you first have to know “that Heino is friends with many Sinti and Roma”. “They all say they are proud of it. Heino sings about her culture here. You don’t see a swear word here. “The swear word is only seen by people who want to make the world a better place and who want to get angry about certain words,” the manager continues.
There is a hail of criticism, especially on social media. Under the official Instagram post of Sat.1 “Breakfast Television,” a user wrote: “Old white men think gender is shit and refuse to use language that is critical of racism. “It’s something completely new.” Not only was the social media post deleted, the recording of the show is no longer available in the media library.
Werner continues to defend Heino. “Basically it’s like this: I don’t know to what extent Heino could be accused of making sexist or racist comments. When I read comments in which he is called an ‘old, white man’, for me that is age discrimination. It’s a very small, miserable bunch who think like that. Heino, at almost 85, doesn’t allow himself to be talked into his language. He is what he is. And there’s nothing wrong with that. He is a German singer and not a politician,” said Werner’s statement.
Sat.1 spokesman Christoph Körfer also commented on the scandal. “In this context, let me quote Salman Rushdie. The Indian writer, who was and is being persecuted for his book ‘The Satanic Verses’, says: ‘Freedom of speech is the key, it’s all about it. “Freedom of speech is life'”.