Allegations against Lindemann
Anti-Semitism officer advocates cancellation of Rammstein concerts in Berlin
Rammstein singer Till Lindemann performing in May 2017
© Imago Images
Despite the allegations against Rammstein singer Till Lindemann, the band’s European tour continues. Three concerts are planned in Berlin in mid-July. The federal government’s anti-Semitism commissioner is in favor of canceling the performances.
After the allegations against Rammstein singer Till Lindemann, the federal government’s anti-Semitism commissioner brought the cancellation of the band’s concerts in the Berlin Olympic Stadium into play. He thinks it is “questionable whether the planned Rammstein concerts in Berlin should take place in the state-run Olympic Stadium,” Felix Klein told the Funke media group on Monday.
“We should take the affected women seriously”
“Anti-democratic discrimination such as anti-Semitism, misogyny and racism often go hand in hand,” Klein continued. “We should take the women concerned seriously, just as we should take Jews seriously when it comes to anti-Semitism,” he said. “We must not allow the limits of what is sayable and feasible to be pushed further and further, even if this is done under the cloak of artistic freedom.”
Several women had – partly anonymously – made serious allegations against Rammstein singer Lindemann in the past few weeks. They described to the NDR and the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” how young women were apparently specifically recruited for sex with the singer. Two women also reported alleged sexual acts that they would not have consented to. The band denied the allegations.
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Klein also criticized a music video for the Rammstein song “Deutschland” in Funke Medien, in which Lindemann and other members of the band portrayed themselves as prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp. Rammstein “mocked the victims of the Shoah with a perfidious extermination camp look,” he said.
In Berlin, Rammstein wants to give concerts on July 15, 16 and 18 in the Olympic Stadium. After-show parties in the capital had previously been canceled. “In Berlin there will be no after-show parties by the band Rammstein in the properties that I am responsible for,” said interior and sports senator Iris Spranger (SPD) last week.