“World Week” summer festival
“It’s not about provocation at all”: Harald Schmidt on his photo with Matussek and Maassen
In the “Zeit” interview, Harald Schmidt talks about his visit to the summer party of the Swiss newspaper “Weltwoche”.
© GEORG HOCHMUTH/ / Picture Alliance
The excitement was great when a photo of Harald Schmidt appeared showing him with the former head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen. Now the entertainer has commented on this for the first time – and declared his participation in the event.
A single photo made waves on social media in the past week. It shows Harald Schmidt together with the new-right journalist Matthias Matussek and Hans-Georg Maassen. The former President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is accused, among other things, of using conspiracy ideology and anti-Semitic language. The photo was taken at the summer party of the Swiss newspaper “Weltwoche”, which belongs to the controversial publisher Roger Köppel.
Many saw the picture as proof that Schmidt had switched to the right position and were disappointed. Now the entertainer has commented on the fuss about his person for the first time. In an interview with “Zeit”, Schmidt justified his participation in the festival, to which AfD boss Alice Weidel was invited as a star guest, with research. He doesn’t care about the excitement caused by his appearance. “Ultimately, I’m an author. I use what I experience on stage,” the long-time late-night talker told the weekly. “I go where I expect material.”
Harald Schmidt is surprised
On such an evening he has to take 40 or 50 photos. He has known Matthias Matussek for more than 30 years, Hans-Georg Maassen, on the other hand, was not personally known to him. Speaking about the hype the image created, the satirist said: “I realize that one photo is now enough to get the community going. Me with a half-empty glass. I didn’t think I would reach this status anymore .” The last time he took a photo was 30 years ago that he hadn’t thought about why he was doing it beforehand.
Schmidt claimed to have had no knowledge of Matussek’s public statements, some of which were highly problematic. “I don’t let about 400 guests brief me beforehand what so and so did before,” said the 66-year-old of “Zeit”. “I could tell you the names of many others who were at the festival. But I’ll leave that to the research network of NDR and Bäckerblume to find out.”
source: “Zeit.de”