Marco Goecke
Ballet boss apologizes for dog excrement attack after all – and upsets the journalist concerned again
Marco Goecke, ballet director of the Hanover State Opera, is standing in the foyer of the State Opera
© Christophe Gateau / DPA
After the dog excrement attack on a journalist, the Hanover State Opera suspended Marco Goecke. The ballet boss has now apologized – but not without reproaching the affected journalist Wiebke Hüster. She reacts in shock.
Three days after his dog excrement attack on a journalist, the ballet director of the Hanover State Opera, Marco Goecke, publicly apologized. At the same time, he made further allegations against the journalist Wiebke Hüster, who reacted indignantly. “That shocked me again,” said Hüster on Tuesday evening in the 3sat culture magazine “Kulturzeit”.
At the beginning, the statement said he wanted to apologize. “But then he switches immediately and reinforces the allegations he made against me anyway.” Hüster added: “What kind of excuse is that supposed to be? That’s a justification. Plus: We’re talking about a criminal offense here. That’s insult and bodily harm.”
Goecke apologizes – but not without new allegations
On Saturday evening in the foyer of the opera house in Hanover, Goecke smeared the journalist of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” with dog excrement. He had previously accused her of always writing “bad, personal” reviews.
Hüster said on Tuesday evening that two of the nine reviews she had written about Goecke’s plays in the past were “exuberantly positive”.
Three days after the attack, Goecke wrote to his management on Tuesday afternoon: “I would like to sincerely apologize to everyone involved, first and foremost to Ms. Hüster, for my absolutely unacceptable action.” The choreographer explained the attack with the “nervous strain of two premieres in quick succession (9.2. The Hague, 11.2. Hanover)”. At the same time, Goecke again accused the journalist and spoke of “often hateful criticism”.
The journalist filed a complaint with the police after the attack. Goecke is being investigated on suspicion of bodily harm and insult. The Hanover State Opera suspended its ballet director on Monday, gave him a temporary house ban and demanded an apology.
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Hanover State Opera does not comment further on the incident
Hüster had told the dpa on Sunday that Goecke had suddenly pulled a plastic bag with dog feces out of his pocket in the foyer of the opera house and rubbed it in the face with the open side. “When I felt what he did, I screamed,” said the 57-year-old. She was in shock and cried.
In an interview broadcast on WDR on Monday evening, Goecke said: “It was absolutely emotional.” His old dachshund put something in his pocket, which sometimes happens at that age. He packed the heap in a bag and wanted to dispose of it outside. Hüster, on the other hand, spoke of a planned crime on Sunday. “It was intentional,” she said.
The State Opera did not want to say on Tuesday whether Goecke would continue to receive his full salary despite the suspension. “It is a pending case,” said a spokeswoman. “Therefore, we will not comment on it again until Thursday at the earliest.”