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Entrepreneur Fynn Kliemann: "Big communication mistake"
Photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa
Three weeks after allegations about protective mask shops became known, Fynn Kliemann distanced himself from a textile company involved.
The musician and entrepreneur said in a video on Instagram that he wanted to break ties with the Global Tactics group of companies.
He is giving back his shares in two group companies founded in 2021.
Kliemann and the textile company were heavily criticized in early May by a TV report by the satirist Jan Böhmermann on ZDF.
Kliemann has an online fashion shop (»Oderso«), through which he offers clothing produced in Europe.
Global Tactics is a textile company from North Rhine-Westphalia with which he maintained business relations.
At the heart of the ZDF contribution was the question of whether the country of production was deliberately kept secret in certain transactions by Global Tactics with a wholesaler in 2020 - masks came from Asia instead of Europe.
The allegations also relate to defective masks that had been donated to refugees.
After the broadcast, the listed retailer, Kliemann and the textile company spoke up independently of each other and also announced that they would each conduct further internal investigations.
(Read more about the allegations and the first reactions here: Kliemannsland at )
According to Kliemann, he used his reputation, his name and free of charge to quickly organize masks in Germany at wholesale level during the pandemic.
In his Instagram video, captioned, "I'm sorry.
I'm going to clean up now" also explained that he had made money in his own shop selling masks - previously he had only spoken of prime costs.
Kliemann wrote on the shop website: »That was a big communication error.
Never maliciously or with fraudulent intent, but it was still a mistake.« He will donate the profit of more than 280,000 euros.
It is not the first time that Kliemann has to admit that he has made money from business, contrary to what was previously stated.
Kliemann became known through home improvement videos on YouTube.
There he presented himself to his fans as a self-made type and free spirit.
In addition to his music career, the best-known project is probably »Kliemannsland«, a farm in the town of Rüspel in Lower Saxony.
There he built a kind of adventure playground for adults.
A good week ago, Global Tactics founder Tom Illbruck spoke up on the Internet.
He wrote about mistakes and misunderstandings for which he wanted to take responsibility.
"During this, no doubt hectic, time at the beginning of the pandemic, I was unaware of the serious consequences my misconduct in communication could cause." He announced that he would be retiring from the company.
sak/dpa
