The Bavarian Radio (BR) does not have to correct his podcast about the rapper Kollegah. A counter notification is not necessary, said the responsible presiding judge at the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Munich. The rapper, whose real name is Felix Blume, had sued the broadcaster for a sentence about his so-called alpha mentoring program.
A BR editor reported in the German rap podcast "Schacht & Wasabi" at the beginning of August that journalists from the magazine "Vice" had slipped into the rapper's coaching program for weeks. According to Kollegah's lawyer, this is a false factual statement because, on the one hand, the journalists had only participated in the program for eight days and, on the other hand, the "Vice" report only mentioned several weeks of observation.
While the Munich district court had given him right in the first instance in October, the OLG now overturned the decision. The context of the "Vice" article allows no other conclusion than that of the BR editor, the court argued.
Kollegah is said to have spread conspiracy theories
Kollegah had made the headlines in the summer for researching "Vice" in collaboration with "BuzzFeed News". The journalists' article said that Kollegah was pulling his clients away in his coaching seminars, calling them "leeks" and spreading conspiracy theories. The seminars are similar to a Guru movement.
Kollegah himself informed the "Vice" journalists that the prices and services of the program were customary in the market and that specific allegations against his employees were being investigated internally. Incidentally, his qualifications in terms of self-organization and success are beyond question.
Kollegah is one of the most successful German rappers in recent years. The strong criticism of the award of the album "Jung, Brutal, Gutaussehend 3" by Kollegah and Farid Bang with an echo had led to the abolition of the music award in 2018. The duo was accused of anti-Semitism because of lines like "My body more defined than that of Auschwitz inmates".
