Thuringia’s Prime Minister
He called the Chancellor “Merkelchen”: Bodo Ramelow was “pretty drunk” at the Clubhouse appearance
Watch the video: Prime Minister Ramelow apologizes for comments on “Clubhouse”.
Just a few days after the hype surrounding the talk app Clubhouse began in Germany, the first top politician has already put himself in trouble with casual chats: Bodo Ramelow. The technology and media-savvy Prime Minister of Thuringia likes to use various channels for his communication. Now also the audio app Clubhouse, the latest hit. In the app, users can take part in discussion groups. According to the app, Ramelow has been registered since January 21st. On Saturday night, as he told the dpa, he took part in the “Trash and Features” panel – and chatted from the oft-quoted topic. The left-wing politician said that during the Prime Minister’s discussions with Chancellor Angela Merkel on the Corona crisis, he was happy to dedicate himself to the online game Candy Crush. He is also said to have sung during his appearance and referred to the Chancellor as “Merkelchen”. The latter was taken out of context, the left-wing politician told the dpa. The chatter was followed by numerous pointed media reports, political criticism and the accusation that the Prime Minister was not acting responsibly in the most important discussions in the fight against the corona pandemic. During another appearance on Clubhouse on Sunday, Ramelow spoke of a learning curve when using it. He has now internalized the analysis of a media service that the enemy is always listening in with regard to the app. He explicitly apologized for the phrase “Merkelchen”: “Belittling the Chancellor’s name was an act of male ignorance. For that, I sincerely apologize.
In 2021, the Clubhouse audio format was trendy – and caused a brief stir. In particular an appearance by Bodo Ramelow. At that time he talked about Candy Crush and called the Chancellor “Merkelchen”.
When Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left) spoke about the online game Candy Crush during a clubhouse appearance and called the then Chancellor “Merkelchen”, he said he was drunk. The 68-year-old revealed this on Tuesday at a “Fuck up Night” in a lecture hall at the University of Erfurt. “I was pretty drunk,” Ramelow said. A “Fuck up Night” is about reporting on your own failures and admitting mistakes. In addition to Ramelow, other Thuringian politicians also talked about their mistakes.
Ramelow’s appearance on the audio platform Clubhouse in 2021 caused a stir because he said that he plays Candy Crush every now and then to clear his head – even at prime ministerial conferences. At that time, the federal and state governments made important decisions in the corona pandemic in these rounds. Ramelow also called then-Chancellor Angela Merkel “Merkelchen,” for which Ramelow later apologized.
Clubhouse is a social media app from the USA that was hyped in Germany for a while. It is an audio format with talk sessions. Ramelow summed up: “And the three beers were too much to play Clubhouse.”
In addition to Bodo Ramelow, other politicians reported their failure
Thuringia’s CDU state party and parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt described his failure in the wake of the failed new election – also in 2021. At the time, he noticed “grumbling” in his parliamentary group. “I let a little snowball become an avalanche in that moment,” he said. He learned from this to discuss such things in the group until the end. In 2021, an agreed new election in Thuringia collapsed because several CDU MPs initially signaled that they did not want to agree to the dissolution of the state parliament. Later, left-wing MPs also did not want to vote. The dissolution of Parliament was cancelled. The state parliament is to be re-elected regularly on September 1st.
At the event, FDP politician Robert-Martin Montag described the few seconds during the prime ministerial election on February 5, 2020, when Thomas Kemmerich was elected head of government and then asked by the President of the State Parliament whether he accepted the election. Kemmerich leaned over to Monday and asked whether he had to answer that directly. Monday answered “yes”. It was only a short time later that he realized that he could have interrupted the meeting. This would have given Kemmerich time to think about it. “I didn’t know. That was my third session in the state parliament,” said Montag. Kemmerich’s election as Prime Minister with votes from the AfD triggered a political earthquake in Thuringia.