After a huge shit storm from BTS fans: Ex-BR presenter Matthias Matuschik is planning for 2022

Created: 12/31/2021, 09:09 AM

From: Katrin Basaran

Matthias Matuschik (56) will start again as a moderator in 2022.

© imago / Christine Roth

In February 2021, Matthias Matuschik heavily gossiped about the South Korean boy band BTS in his BR radio show.

For this he reaps a worldwide shit storm - which almost ruins him.

A relaxed, spontaneous mouth is considered to be a quality feature of good moderators in addition to language skills and creativity. Perhaps not every sentence is exactly right there, but it creates a naturalness that also allows personality. It is precisely these qualities that listeners love about Matthias Matuschik. The DJ, cabaret artist and BR3 presenter has consistently achieved cult status over the years with his program "Matuschke - The Other Evening in Bavaria 3". On February 24th of this year, however, he crossed a taste limit with a comment for several listeners: The result is a worldwide and highly personal shitstorm via the Internet that almost destroyed his existence.

In these February days, Germany is in lockdown. The first easing is a done deal, but public life is still largely slowed down. So when Matthias Matuschik goes on air with his show at 9 p.m., it is naturally long dark, and the studio is often orphaned except for a few colleagues.

So far, so normal.

Also that the mood of the cult presenter is not in the best, sounds understandable given the circumstances and is somehow part of the grumpy charm of the 56-year-old.

When introducing the Coldplay hit "Fix you", however, he first talks himself into a rage and then goes to head and neck: He ties in with the South Korean boy band BTS, which had recorded an unplugged concert on MTV the day before and covered the said song .

Not at all possible for Matuschke and he starts off: That he calls the boy band “little pissers” and the cover a “blasphemy” are the more harmless sentences.

Virus comparisons and the suggestion that the young South Koreans should vacation in dictatorial North Korea for the next 20 years are worse.

After radio scandal: BTS fans accuse Matuschik of racism and xenophobia

"If a fairy godmother asked me something today, I would like to undo this moderation," admits Matthias Matuschik in an interview. When he was venting his anger that evening, a 14-year-old BTS disciple recorded his word thunderstorm somewhere in Bavaria and posted it on Twitter under the hashtag # Bayern3Racist. It is a declaration of war on the moderator, who is now accused of xenophobia and racism.

BTS supporters, an estimated 45 million worldwide, call themselves “Army” (Adorable Representative MC for Youth), and it is now moving. A shitstorm against Matuschik and Bayern3 storms off - and despite the public apology of the moderator, who has been committed to refugees and against racism for years, still does not want to die away. "Yes, you could get it wrong, it wasn't my most glorious hour," he says today. "But anyone who knows me knows that the accusation of racism is paradoxical."

His broadcast in the week after the derailments will still be the last Matuschke show: The waves of hatred hit the station on Munich's radio station - from Europe, Asia, South America, time zone by time zone was added.

The telephone lines are glowing, the mailboxes are flooded.

And the man with the brisk mouth now only works editorially, his micro remains off.

Later, when it was March, April, the BR announced that it would completely cancel the program - a restructuring that had nothing to do with the shitstorm, as they asserted.

Boyband BTS: Your fans around the world call themselves Army and take action against any criticism of the South Koreans.

© Jordan Strauss / Invision / Ap / dpa

The 56-year-old is falling into the crisis. “The nerves were on the edge.” The eight weeks after that unfortunate moderation sink into a fog - even the support of fellow broadcasters, their own fans, friends and family doesn't change that. “You are still alone,” says Matuschke. “I cried around [I find it rather cute and distant), couldn't sleep, took psychotropic drugs.” A vague fear for his loved ones worries him, because the army is still marching: “There were death threats, my mother was called, Hitler's whore 'A bounty was given on the social networks for intimate details from my private life! ”From the private address to credit card details, for which four-digit dollar amounts were offered.After all, apart from a few smears on garbage cans, things remain quiet in his immediate vicinity.

At some point Matuschke tries to take legal action against the worst agitators.

“But most of these fans are children or teenagers, they are not yet of criminal age, you cannot prosecute them.” Gathering information about the Army and self-reflection during an incognito break in Dubai help him to see more clearly again.

He now knows that this is probably the best organized fan club in the world, divided into individual chapters that are well networked.

Members are constantly on the lookout for the smallest snippets of their favorites - be it praise or criticism, which is then orchestrated against.

BTS management or record company have nothing to do with it, by the way.

Matthias Matuschik receives death threats: What's next for him now?

Around three months ago, Matuschke ventured into the public again for the first time in his role as a cabaret artist with his program “Gerne gegen”: “I was really nervous about my first appearance.” The audience welcomed him with one and a half minutes of applause. “That was amazing, very encouraging,” he says, still sounding touched. In the meantime, the native of Upper Palatinate is forging further plans. He will be moderating again from January 10th: He will be broadcasting on Radio C, a new web radio in Luxembourg, from Monday to Thursday from 7 p.m. onwards. “Without scissors in your head and spontaneously. I will continue to think and not pray, ”he says. "And if BTS ever make a song that I really like, I'll say that too."

Of course, he has learned one thing from this year: “The network has the power to destroy people.

It is Pandora's box that has long been open.

And when I look at the Army like that, I am impressed by its vigor - and ask myself: What could these kids achieve if they stood up for our world with the same commitment? "