Updated February 1, 2020, 10:13 p.m.
The organizers of the Semper Opera Ball have to look again for a new moderator. After Judith Rakers, Mareile Höppner now also waives. The reason: the moderator was threatened massively on the Internet.
To Judith Rakers Mareile Höppner, who stepped in for her, also canceled the moderation of the Semperoper ball in Dresden. The reason was an unbearable “degree of hate to threats,” she told the MDR, as the station announced on Saturday. “I have now become a victim and target of the worst hatred and hostility. Even my child was not stopped,” wrote Höppner on Instagram on Saturday. “We at MDR are shocked by the extent of the brutalization,” the broadcaster said.
Al-Sisi is awarded
Rakers withdrew her acceptance on Wednesday night because of the controversial awarding of the Order of St. Semperoper to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. It was then announced on Thursday that Mareile Höppner would take on this job – alongside pop singer Roland Kaiser. He had also criticized the awarding of the prize, but still wants to be on stage as the moderator of the ball on February 7th.
Höppner writes down Instagram further, she hoped “after all the scandals and the very justified criticism of the selection of a prize winner” that she could design a Semperoper ball in the sense of “our good democratic values”. “I wish my colleague Roland Kaiser a lot of strength for this evening. I expect the person in charge of the ball to finally set new standards. “
TV broadcast on the test bench
The MDR said on Saturday: “We do not allow individual radical voices on the Internet to influence our work.” Therefore, the broadcaster wanted to broadcast the ball on February 7, despite the controversial award ceremony. However, a future TV broadcast should then be “critically examined internally”.
Neither the organizer nor the MDR could be reached on Saturday for information about who would now take over Höppner’s moderation. According to its own statements, the broadcaster Höppner has offered legal support in dealing with hate and baiting online. (Mss / dpa)
Teaser image: © Jan Woitas / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa
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