Status: 02/13/2023 1:17 p.m
There was a scandal at the premiere of the ballet “Faith – Love – Hope” at the Hanover State Opera. Ballet director Marco Goecke smeared a critic with dog feces after an argument.
The incident between the ballet director and the journalist Wiebke Hüster happened on Saturday during the first break in the foyer, like the State Opera On your webpage communicated. Goecke accused her of “always writing such personal reviews,” said the employee of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (FAZ) of the German Press Agency. Then Goecke – who had his dog with him – pulled a bag out of his pocket and rubbed the feces in her face with the open side, Hüster said. “When I felt what he did, I screamed.” After the theater’s spokeswoman helped her to clean herself in the director’s washroom, she drove to the police and filed a complaint, Hüster said. A police spokeswoman told the Evangelical Press Service (epd) that the police were investigating insults and bodily harm. Now witnesses would be heard first. The spokeswoman did not want to give names for data protection reasons.
Director Berman: “Will consider legal steps”
“We are extremely dismayed and apologize. We took care of the person concerned and apologized to her personally and also publicly. The Hanover State Opera is an open place of respectful cooperation and exchange,” said the director of the State Opera, Laura Berman. in a statement. Wiebke Hüster was “injured in her personal integrity”. “We believe that calm and care are now required.” The opera will examine, advise and then act on labor law steps against ballet director Goecke. A spokeswoman for the opera announced a further statement for the afternoon.
Goecke reacts on Instagram
Marco Goecke reacted on Instagram and justified the scandal by writing that the measure was full: “I’ve been working for 25 years and I don’t care about bad reviews! But there are limits! Nobody who has a business would put up with that! “.
FAZ: Goecke threatened to be banned from the house and became violent
According to the newspaper, Goecke apparently felt provoked by Hüster’s review of his The Hague ballet evening “In the Dutch Mountains”. Goecke initially threatened her with being “banned from the house” and accused her of being responsible for canceling subscriptions in Hanover, she says FAZ the incident. “But we also see the humiliating act as an attempt to intimidate our free, critical view of art, in addition to the offense of physical harm,” the newspaper continues. Goecke’s “crossing of boundaries” revealed “the disturbed relationship of an artist to criticism”.
Feuilleton boss: “Do not recognize any systematic violation”
The ballet director’s overreaction remains a mystery to the FAZ. The criticism written by her journalist Hüster was particularly critical, but not in any way disparaging, said feuilleton boss Matthias Alexander to the NDR in Lower Saxony. “We can’t see any systematic injury and there’s no history either,” Alexander continued.
Feces attack for Minister of Culture Mohrs an “unacceptable action”
Lower Saxony’s Minister of Culture Falko Mohrs (SPD) wants to discuss “all further steps with the state theater” after the incident, as his spokeswoman told NDR Lower Saxony on Monday. From Mohrs’ point of view, it was an “unacceptable action”, it said.
Journalists’ Association: “Attack on freedom of the press”
The German Association of Journalists in Lower Saxony also condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms. “An artist has to endure criticism, even if it may seem exaggerated. Anyone who reacts to criticism with violence is unacceptable,” writes state chairman Frank Rieger on Twitter. He called for a clearer reaction from those responsible: “The State Opera’s explanation of the incident is insufficient, because the attack on the journalist from the FAZ is also an attack on press freedom.”
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Keywords for this article
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