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Naidoo should not be called anti-Semitic. Photo: Uwe Anspach
Source: dpa-infocom GmbH
At a public event in Lower Bavaria, a speaker described singer Xavier Naidoo as an anti-Semite. The musician, on the other hand, acts legally – and gets right.
R egensburg (dpa) – Pop singer Xavier Naidoo (46, "I do not know anything") has successfully resisted allegations of anti-Semitism. The District Court of Regensburg has banned a speaker of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation from calling the singer an antisemitic.
She was not able to substantiate this accusation, Judge Barbara Pöschl said Tuesday when she read the verdict. The speaker said in court last year in Straubing: "It is an anti-Semitic, structurally verifiable."
The Foundation is against right-wing extremism. Naidoo and the speaker were present at the sentencing hearing
Naidoo, singer of the band Söhne Mannheims, had called for freedom of the art at the trial three weeks ago and stressed that he was against racism. He dismissed the charge of anti-Semitic resentment in the courtroom. His son also has a Hebrew name. The defendant stated that Naidoo also uses anti-Semitic codes and numbers in his words. They were not known to him, replied the musician.
The accusation of anti-Semitism intervenes in the right to privacy of Naidoo, and the singer must also consider the protection of artistic freedom, explained the judge. The defendant may invoke the right to freedom of expression, but here the right to protect the personality is more severe.
The phrase "He is anti-Semitic" says that Naidoo is an anti-Semite in person – beyond the words quoted. The defendant could not prove it sufficiently. The singer, however, had credibly distanced himself from the use of anti-Semitic resentment and code words in his lyrics.
The judge pointed out that the court did not judge whether Naidoo's texts were anti-Semitic or not. "You can not commit it." But: He wanted to understand the lyrics differently and his distancing was credible. Being an anti-Semite is in Germany a "very gross charge", the defendant must refrain from that. An appeal is possible against the verdict.
Naidoo's lawyer Frank Wolf commented that the verdict was not unexpected because the pejorative term was unfounded. "The name taken from the air is not only a statement of fact absolutely incorrect, it is in their absurdity of freedom of expression broadly understood is no longer recorded."
The Mannheim singer is considered a political controversy. On the day of German unity in 2014, he spoke in Berlin during a demonstration of so-called Reich citizens, who reject public order in Germany. Naidoo pointed out later that he had nothing to do with the "Reich Citizens".
In 2015, NDR offered him the only German candidate for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden, but withdrew his nomination after many protests. Last year, Naidoo was criticized for his song "Puppets". He was accused of posting populist notes right in the song with derogatory remarks about politicians.
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