‘Comedy is now also allowed on Twitter’ was one of Musk’s first posts when he bought X, however German satirist ‘El Hotzo’ has apparently taken this one step too far.
X’s CEO Elon Musk has appealed to Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz over a tweet originally posted by well-known German satirist El Hotzo in which he appeared to support the assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump.
“Chancellor, what is this?” wrote Musk on X quoting a post by German climate change denier Naomi Seibt, in which she warns her followers about the German satirist Sebastian Hotz, also known as “El Hotzo”.
In his tweet, Musk questions why the German government employs Hotz, a claim made by right-wing Youtuber Naomi Seibt.
Hotz hosts a radio show on German broadcast network RBB, which German taxpayers fund.
The 28-year-old is known in Germany for his political satire and social criticism, mostly through his social media presence.
In his posts, he asked what the last bus and Donald Trump had in common and answered himself: “Unfortunately just missed”. In another post, he wrote: “I think it’s absolutely fantastic when fascists die”.
The posts have since been deleted, but have been immortalised online through thousands of screenshots.
The post has caused outrage in the German media. Politicians, such as FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki, have called on the public prosecutor’s office to “look into” the 28-year-old’s post.
However, the most frequently voiced demand – also by petition – was that Hotz be dismissed from the public broadcaster RBB.
The satirist and author’s regular programme on the RBB radio station Fritz has been cancelled, with the station parting ways with Hotz. “His statements there are not compatible with the values that RBB stands for,” said RBB programme director Katrin Günther.
Double standards?
The incident has sparked a debate in Germany over whether freedom of expression applies equally to everyone.
After RBB parted company with Hotz, this decision was celebrated by some on the political spectrum who would otherwise be against the idea of “cancel culture”.
Those on the political left criticised the jubilation surrounding Hotz’s dismissal, arguing that double standards were being applied.
The word “double standards” is frequently used in the current context. People from the right-wing or conservative spectrum in Germany such as CDU politician Frank Bommert have also spread hatred online, yet have not faced serious repercussions.
“Dear God, last year you called my favourite rock star Tina Turner to you, my favourite skier Rosi Mittermeier and just recently my favourite footballer Franz Beckenbauer,” posted Brandenburg’s CDU deputy leader Frank Bommert on WhatsApp in January of this year.
ADVERTISEMENT“My favourite politicians are Robert Habeck, Annalena Baerbock and Ricarda Lang. Oh, and Olaf Scholz.” The post was deleted shortly afterwards and Bommert said that it was a “politically incorrect joke” and that he didn’t mean to offend anyone.
The CDU executive reprimanded Bommert, according to media reports, yet he emerged relatively unscathed. Party spokeswoman Monika Larch said: “There are no consequences for the time being. It’s just a yellow card. Only in the event of a further offence could the board pull out the red card and strip Bommert of all party offices.”
Hotz has hundreds of thousands of fans on social media who are now wondering why the 28-year-old was immediately penalised with a red card.
The comedian shared his supposed statement on Instagram. The link led to a donation page for the aid organisation Medico.
ADVERTISEMENTOn X, the 28-year-old rounded off the evening with another statement: “I am Germany’s cheekiest unemployed person”.
