Rammstein: Publisher ends the collaboration with Till Lindemann

Rammstein singer
After allegations against Till Lindemann – Verlag ends the cooperation

Allegations against Rammstein singer Till Lindemann have been circulating on social media for days. It’s about knockout drops and sexual assault. The band denies the allegations. In the meantime, however, Lindemann is feeling the effects: Kiepenheuer & Witsch (KiWi) announced on its website on Friday that it wanted to end the collaboration with the 60-year-old. The publisher had published several volumes of poetry by the musician.

“We have been shocked to see allegations against Till Lindemann that have become public in recent days. Our sympathy and respect goes to the women affected,” says the statement signed by publisher Kerstin Gleba. In the course of the current reporting, the publisher “became aware of a porn video in which Till Lindemann celebrates sexual violence against women”, in which the book “In still night” published by KiWi also plays a role. “We see this as a gross breach of trust and a reckless act against the values ​​we represent as a publisher.”

The freedom of art is still being defended, but Lindemann’s acts of humiliating women in the porn and the use of the book in a pornographic context mock the separation between the “lyrical I” and the artist himself, it is said. In doing so, Lindemann is overstepping “boundaries that are immovable for us when dealing with women”. The relationship of trust with the author was irretrievably broken, so it was decided to end the collaboration with Till Lindemann with immediate effect.

Criticism of the lyrics by Rammstein singer Till Lindemann

On Twitter, the publisher received some ridicule for his step, some heavy criticism. On the one hand, many users criticized KiWi for giving in to public pressure and for prejudice. But a lot of criticism was also sparked by the fact that the publisher is only now reacting: Lindemann’s poetry has been criticized for years as misogynist, something like the poem “When you sleep”, published in 2020, which says, among other things:

“I like to sleep with you when you dream
Because you miss everything here
And that’s how it’s supposed to be (that’s how it’s supposed to be, that’s how it’s fun)
Some Rohypnol in the wine (some Rohypnol in the glass)
You can’t move at all
and you sleep
It’s a blessing”

In addition, users point out that the “porn video” mentioned by name in the statement was already uploaded in 2020, so the publisher could have known about it long ago, if not had to.

Sources used: KiWi publisher, “Tagesschau.de”, KiWi on Twitter

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