Over 100 prominent German writers and artists have signed an open letter boycotting a popular culture program on public television due to the appointment of Thilo Mischke as its new co-host. Mischke has been criticized for past writings containing misogyny, racism, ableism, and homophobia.
More than 100 prominent German writers and artists have signed an open letter refusing to appear on one of the country’s top culture programmes on public television after it announced a new host accused of sexism and racism in his writing. Broadcaster ARD said in late December it had picked author Thilo Mischke, 43, to co-moderate its flagship arts show , ttt – Titel, Thesen, Temperamente (Titles, Theses, Temperaments), after veteran host Max Moor stepped aside.
Journalists Annika Brockschmidt and Rebekka Endler spotlighted what they called misogyny, racism, ableism and homophobia in books Mischke had published over the years as well as in a series of recent comments. In his 2010 book, Around the World In 80 Women, the first-person narrator tries to seduce the titular number of women across the globe and details his conquests using broad ethnic stereotypes. His 2013 book, The Love of Your Life Doesn’t Need Big Breasts, has also come in for fresh scrutiny. Mischke partially distanced himself in 2021 from what he wrote, in a move the authors of the open letter now call “insufficient”. On his own podcast in 2019, Mischke said that “male sexuality is perhaps based on rape”, calling the act something “primally male”, Brockschmidt and Endler reported. In the open letter, high-profile members of the German-language arts scene including bestselling authors Saša Stanišic, Margarete Stokowski and Anne Rabe, actor Julius Feldmeier of Netflix’s Kleo and Austrian photographer Stefan Draschan said they were “appalled” by the hiring of Mischke and would boycott ttt until it dropped him. “We want enthusiastic hosts who are interested in culture for cultural TV, those who are sensitive and empathetic and able to respond to the current discourse and up to addressing the complexity of contemporary cultural debates,” they wrot
ARTISTS GERMANY HOST MISOGYNY RACISM TV SHOW Boycott
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