What Oktoberfest is in the south, Kiel Week is in the north. Except that the week-long summer festival isn’t just about drinking and partying, it’s also about sailing. Every year, several million guests visit the folk festival in the north, and of course the Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein also has professional and private appointments at the festival. The CDU politician made a well-received appearance in the Bayern tent on Thursday.
on a something blurry video, which appeared on Twitter, Daniel Günther can be seen on the stage in the party tent. The 49-year-old – in a gray shirt and jeans – jumps up and down to the beat, laughs, and sings into the microphone: “I’ve got a whorehead. And my whorehouse mom’s name is Layla. She’s prettier, younger, hornier. La-La- La-la-la-la-la-Layla. La-la-la-la, the beautiful Layla.” Then the politician leaves his certainty of text for a moment, he looks at the man next to him on the stage. He knows what’s next. Just repeat: “She’s prettier, younger, hornier.” With his right arm, Günther points to the rhythm in the crowd, which in turn stretches out their hands and beer mugs.
The Kiel State Chancellery confirms the authenticity of the video
The deputy government spokeswoman in Kiel confirmed the Süddeutsche Zeitung on request the authenticity of the video, the Prime Minister also visited the Bavarian tent “as part of a private tour” during the Kiel Week. There he was asked by the band to sing along with them some of their songs on stage. “As in the past, the Prime Minister was happy to comply with this request,” said a statement.
Because of its sexist undertones, there were heated discussions about DJ Robin & Schürze’s Ballermann hit for weeks in Germany last summer. At several large folk festivals such as the Düsseldorf Rheinkirmes in North Rhine-Westphalia and the Würzburg Kilian Festival in Bavaria, the song, which many consider misogynistic, may not be played. At the Munich Oktoberfest 2022, on the other hand, “Layla” was a hit with the public.
Daniel Günther is considered to be together with NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst the young hope of the CDU; he was even traded as Merkel’s crown prince. In his second term of office in the northernmost state, Günther is leading his black-green state government largely silently and very successfully.
It is not the first video of him partying: when he was confirmed in the state election in 2022 with 43.4 percent in the prime minister’s office, he also did a video of him around, which shows him dancing and singing to the song “Helikopter 117” (“Mach den Hub Hub Hub”). The Picture-Zeitung Günther said to “Layla” last summer: “It would not be a song that I would play at my party.” But he has no problems with the text.
The producer of the Layla song, Dominik de Léon, had in one Mirror-Interview said that he himself was surprised at how well the song was received “in times when MeToo is still in everyone’s mind and the gender discussion is being held up and down”.