Marco Goecke apologizes for his dog excrement attack on the critic Wiebke Hüster. The 50-year-old ballet director of the Hanover State Opera showed neither remorse nor insight after his physical assault on the dance critic of the FAZ last Saturday. The Hanover State Opera suspended him on Monday and banned him from the house. Goecke delivered the apology demanded by the theater management in a statement on Tuesday.
It says: “I would like to sincerely apologize to everyone involved, first and foremost to Ms. Hüster, for my absolutely unacceptable action. In retrospect, I am clearly aware that this was a shameful act in affect and an overreaction.”
Then follows a long “but” passage, in which Goecke not only refers to his “nervous strain” due to two premieres in quick succession, but above all to the “difficult post-corona period”, in which it is appropriate for all media “to reconsider a certain form of reporting that is destructive, hurtful and damaging to the entire cultural industry”. Cultural criticism must ask itself where it “violates the line between insults, disparagement of works, bullying, attempts at negative opinion-making and damage to business”.
Wiebke Hüster has been doing this to him for years “with her often hateful criticism”. Goecke: “I apologize for the fact that my collar finally burst. But I also ask for a certain understanding, at least for the reasons why this happened.” That doesn’t sound like real regret.