Outrage after fake interview: Schumacher family sues gossip magazine

After a tasteless fake interview, the family of Formula 1 icon Michael Schumacher takes action against the magazine “Die Aktuell”.

A spokesman for the Schumacher family confirmed to “Übermedien” and “ESPN” that legal action had been taken against the magazine.

The outrage was great, the reactions were clear: the gossip newspaper “Die Aktuell” had on the magazine cover with the announcement of a “first interview” with Michael Schumacher, who has not appeared publicly since his skiing accident in 2013 and shielded from his family caused a great deal of excitement. The interview was a “world sensation,” the paper even called it.

With headlines such as “My life has changed completely”, “Die Aktuell” also tried to give the impression in the inside of the magazine that it was actually a real interview with Michael Schumacher. “Here it is – the incredible interview,” it says, for example: “With redeeming answers to the most burning questions that the whole world has been asking for so long.”

Ultimately, however, the conversation was completely fictitious, as the magazine explained in the text. The alleged exclusive conversation with the seven-time Formula 1 world champion was an AI-generated interview. So the answers were all fictitious.

Harsh criticism: “A remarkable cheek”

“The interview was on the Internet. On a page that has to do with artificial intelligence, or AI for short,” says the authorship information in the text.

Meanwhile, the reactions online were violent. “A remarkable impudence,” judged the “Übermedien” portal, for example. There was also a lot of criticism on Twitter.

Information about Michael Schumacher’s state of health has not been made public since the fatal skiing accident around ten years ago. So far, wife Corinna has only spoken about the former Formula 1 driver in the Netflix documentary “Schumacher”: “We are together, we live together. We treat, we do everything so that Michael gets better and is fine.”

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