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Photo: Screenshot / BR
A satirical broadcast by Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) is under criticism after a contribution with an actor painted in black.
In the program »SchleichFernsehen« broadcast on Thursday evening, the satirist Helmut Schleich mimes a black despot who gives Germany tips on how to deal with the corona pandemic.
Among other things, he recommends developing shutdowns as well as the practice of »shut up« for critics - they should »shut up«, is subtitled accordingly.
Black face with baby crocodile
The sketch is probably intended as a parody of Franz Josef Strauss.
The former CSU boss was also known for his rough pronunciation and recommended that others shut up.
However, Schleich does not wear an ostrich insignia, but the fantasy uniform of a dictator and waves a stuffed baby crocodile behind his desk.
His face is painted black.
In this masquerade, known as "blackfacing", white actors appear in the role of blacks.
It has a racist origin - white performers used the presentation in the "minstrel shows" of the 18th and 19th centuries to make fun of black people.
»Blackfacing« has long been frowned upon.
In the network, the number on Friday morning ensures appropriate reactions.
The journalist Malcolm Ohanwe writes that he is “stunned”: “Before a black man moderates a program on Bavarian television, the editorial team prefers to paint themselves black and fool African countries.
Do you have to understand that? "
The Marburg SPD politician Liban Farah would like to see a program on public television "without being afraid that my ancestors and I will be racially insulted".
The rapper Lady Bitch Ray also asks on Twitter whether television "never learns" and continues to broadcast "blackfacing bullshit".
And Moritz Kelber, musicologist at the University of Bern, sees the contribution as evidence of “structural racism”.
"Don't shy away from the most ludicrous costumes"
Bayerischer Rundfunk and Helmut Schleich initially did not respond to the criticism.
The program "SchleichFernsehen" has been running on BR for almost ten years, and a new issue appears once a month.
About the format it says on the station's homepage that Schleich parodies »the mighty - and those who would like to be«.
For his pieces he "does not shy away from the most ludicrous costumes".
Racism allegations against the WDR had been loud twice in the past few weeks.
In the talk show "The Last Instance" a group of exclusively white media professionals discussed whether one should still use racist words such as "Gypsy schnitzel".
And in the carnival program »Jet zo fiere!
The best of being awarded the order “Against Animal Seriousness” ”was a passage with people in black make-up.
The "Against the Animal Seriousness" program was a compilation of excerpts from old programs.
The material comes from a carnival session in 2010, where the awareness that the technique of blackfacing has a racist origin may not have been so pronounced in Germany.
mrc
