interview
comedian
Bastian Bielendorfer after criticism of the saying about the AfD: “If you don’t like it, go home”
Bastian Bielendorfer: “It doesn’t go into my head”
©PR
Comedian Bastian Bielendorfer finds clear words about the AfD on stage – a viewer did not like that. Bielendorfer paid her back the ticket price. in the star-Interview he says: “I don’t want to earn money with people with such ideas.”
Bastian Bielendorfer caused a stir on social networks last week with a video. The comedian recorded it after recording his show for RTL in Duisburg. Bielendorfer reported that a viewer had complained to him: “I would have said something about fascism in the Bundestag and about the AfD.” The 38-year-old then offered the woman a refund of the ticket price.
“I don’t want money from people like you. I don’t want to earn a dime with a ticket you bought,” Bielendorfer clarified in the video. With the star did he talk about the incident?
Bastian Bielendorfer: “1198 people agreed with me and two didn’t”
Bastian Bielendorfer, what exactly did you say that upset the viewer so much?
Bastian Bielendorfer: I’ve talked about how we’re experiencing division around the world right now, whether it was in the White House a few years ago or in Ukraine now. And then I talked about the fact that we had fascists in the German Bundestag again and said: I don’t think anyone with a heart in their chest and a brain in their head could wish for right-wing radicals in this country have something else to say. 1198 people in the hall agreed with me and two did not.
What exactly was in the comment that the viewer wrote to you about it?
She has probably already concluded who I meant, although I didn’t say the name of the party. I have always taken the view that the AfD is an unelectable party. She then wrote that the party I was referring to was not the fascists but everyone else. On her site there were posts like ‘If the traffic light fails, then it’s right before left’. When I then replied that she represented right-wing ideas, she strongly contradicted me. I offered her a refund of the entrance fee, because I just don’t want to earn money with people with such ideas and this background. I mean, I have a podcast called Bratwurst und Baklava at Eins Live that I run with a Turkish colleague and I’m really the last person you should bring something like this to.
They then refunded her the entrance fee. What amount was that?
That was 65.70 euros for both tickets.
They then donated a multiple of the amount to the refugee aid of the German Red Cross. Why was that so important to you?
To inspire a little so that others can donate too. It doesn’t have to be 500 euros, it can also be five euros. I was then accused of not donating to our beautiful Germany, for example to the Ahr Valley. I have already donated to the Ahr Valley. But I also have a clear opinion about Ukraine and what is happening there. How you can have so little humanity and empathy when people are leaving a country because it’s being bombed and not understanding that these people need help – it just doesn’t get into my head.
Did you have any inhibitions about making the incident public and thereby exposing the woman to a certain extent?
No, I haven’t published anything that she hasn’t written publicly herself. If someone pours out his hatred of me and others in my profile in a way that everyone can read, he must expect opposition. In recent years, freedom of expression has repeatedly been confused with freedom of contradiction. Everyone is free to say and do whatever they want, as long as they don’t harm others. But he has to live with the fact that others disagree. If that means that now on my tour, which is fortunately sold out, people like that won’t come and return their tickets, then there’s room for others that I might prefer to have there.
Was there any personal contact with the person later?
She threatened me with a lawsuit – so far nothing has happened. It tends to be rather stupid for them because I haven’t done anything for which I could be legally prosecuted. I don’t have to ask her out for tea now. And I don’t think we would find any kind of consensus either. If you want to stand in line with Björn Höcke or other people who say that ‘a Holocaust would be worthwhile again’ because ‘we now have so many foreigners in the country’, then I can’t relate to that. Of course, not every AfD voter is a right-wing extremist, but every AfD voter stands behind a certain ideology.
Do you often get such feedback about your program and how do you deal with it?
It’s rarely that extreme. Someone once threw a beer at me at Lake Constance – but I’m like a cat, I was able to avoid it. He yelled: ‘I’m not here for your political opinion, you have to be neutral.’ And I said: ‘No, I’m not Switzerland.’ I can be whatever I want on stage and you can agree or disagree. And if you don’t like it, go home.