Taylor Swift, 32, US singer, receives an honorary doctorate from New York University. She is “one of the most productive and celebrated artists of her generation,” the university said – and the “only female solo artist of this century to have had three albums in one year at number one.” Swift received an honorary doctorate of fine arts. The singer will also speak at the graduation ceremony at Yankee Stadium for the 2022 graduates.
Peter Kloeppel, 63, TV presenter, reached his limits when moderating. “September 11, 2001 was definitely the most extraordinary and challenging day for me,” said Kloeppel, who in his 30 years as an anchorman of “RTL aktuell” has run through the news almost 7,000 times, the dpa. “After all, it was a seven and a half hour live track that pushed me to my limits physically and mentally.” Up to 5.77 million viewers saw Kloeppel’s moderation marathon on the occasion of the terrorist attacks on the New York World Trade Center and other targets in the USA. This Wednesday Kloeppel celebrates his 30th anniversary as the news show’s chief moderator.
Sarah Connor, 41, singer, has taken in refugees from the Ukraine. “I drove to the main train station with my older children and said: Come on, let’s pitch in and help. Then you don’t feel like you’re so powerless and listless,” she said RTL. The singer, whose eldest children from the relationship with Marc Terenzi are 15 and 18 years old, had already taken in refugees from Syria in 2015. The Ukraine war is a burden on her family, according to Connor. Before her first appearance at the weekend after a compulsory Corona break, she asked herself whether it was okay to perform now. But her soul breathed a sigh of relief, she told the dpa. “What defines us as humans and differentiates us from computers is that we can feel and resonate with each other.”
Felix Brueckner, 33, singer of the Hamburg rock band Fheels, doesn’t want pity. “That’s what the majority of people with disabilities want: We don’t want exaggerated expressions of respect or pity, but normal cooperation in which the disability becomes a side note,” said Brückner, who has been in a wheelchair since a snowboarding accident German press agency. In order to break down even more barriers for disabled people, the singer is involved in the initiative “Barrier-Free Celebrations”, which advises organizers of festivals such as Wacken Open Air.