Every Jubilee comes a figure of incredible popularity. Thomas Gottschalk. Nora Tschirner. Pumuckl. More recently, that figure was Fynn Kliemann. Kliemann, 34, started with adorable DIY videos on YouTube, he is a broker for beautiful vacation homes and a self-taught love song singer. In the “Kliemannsland” he founded, an old horse farm in Lower Saxony, he offers artists studios and workshops in a feel-good atmosphere. With the musician Olli Schulz he renovated Gunter Gabriel’s houseboat shack, in the Netflix documentary you can see him faithfully swinging the cordless screwdriver into the night.
Kliemann is committed to socially disadvantaged families, he sells clothing and corona protection masks, produced sustainably, of course. He does everything you might have been too lazy to do yourself, he makes it public and he does it right too. one thought.
Now the also very consensual entertainer Jan Böhmermann raises in the ZDF Magazine Royale the accusation that Kliemann cheated in transactions with corona protection masks. Many masks were not made fairly in Portugal and Serbia, but in Bangladesh and Vietnam. In 2020, the textile company “Global Tactics”, in which Kliemann now holds shares, switched to the production of masks. Kliemann himself had advertised on Instagram that the masks would be produced in Europe, fairly but cheaply. He doesn’t want to earn anything with it he assured him Focusnot like the “profit vultures”.
According to the ZDF Magazin Royal, it has collected emails, chat histories and voice messages that were sent between Fynn Kliemann and Tom Ilbruck, managing directors of “Global Tactics” and another textile manufacturer involved. It talks about Bangladesh as a production site, about the fact that the “Kappa”, i.e. the production capacity, has to be increased, and Illbruck considers how the delivery boxes from there arrive “neutrally” at the major customer, an online clothing store. So without reference to the country of origin. A few thousand masks that were not in perfect condition, reports Böhmermann, are said to have been donated to refugee camps.
When asked by SZ, Kliemann named another culprit
Jan Böhmermann taps around on the calculator in his show, not without glee: “Global Tactics” is said to have made a million euro profit with the masks. Peanuts compared to the profits from the mask deals of the CDU/CSU, but the CDU/CSU has always been suspect to many people. And that’s why Jens Spahn and his mask shops and donations have long been forgotten. Böhmermann then quotes a statement that really doesn’t sound like a do-gooder: “Crisis can also be cool,” Kliemann is said to have said.
When asked by SZ, Kliemann himself said through his management on Friday: “Yes, Global Tactics also had masks made in Bangladesh. No, I never sold or advertised these masks.” All masks labeled as coming from Europe and sold in his shop “Oderso” were also made in Europe. Those produced by Global Tactics in Bangladesh are “wholesale contingent for Global Tactics trading partners and bulk buyers.”
So the concealment of the country of origin on the boxes happened, but nothing that he stands for. At that time he was not even a partner in Global Tactics. Tom Illbruck alone is responsible for the relabelling, who, according to Kliemann, wanted to protect a trade secret. Kliemann apologizes for not getting involved at the time, he had been copied in emails on the subject. At the time, the whole world was screaming for masks, “I have to admit that I could no longer oversee the process”.
The saying “Crisis can also be cool” was actually meant to be kind
The allegations that the masks were manufactured under low wage conditions in Bangladesh are false. For the production there, Kliemann only brought together the textile manufacturer “Texolution” with Illbruck from “Global Tactics”, but does not want to have been involved with the details of their business. Because he was not even a partner in Global Tactics. The company itself announced a statement, which was not available as of Friday afternoon. Böhmermann’s accusation of having donated faulty masks to refugees is unfounded, writes Kliemann. The donated masks were only “slightly larger than the original specification”. And the saying “Crisis can also be cool” is actually meant to be nice. Kliemann referred to the realization that something could be done in the crisis.
What will now follow, will probably have to clarify lawyers. That’s one.
The other is Kliemann’s handling of the ZDF research. Because after the editors had confronted him with the allegations in advance, he addressed his followers via video on Instagram at the beginning of the week. “Normally you let your lawyer know,” he said about the inquiries from ZDF, “but I found that kind of stupid”. He finds investigative journalism “cool” and is a fan of transparent discussions. Point by point he dealt with the questions. Like, darling. At least from the Instagram followers.
When journalists work investigatively, they have to confront the other side with allegations that are to be reported on in advance, so that the other side can clear them up if necessary. With the publication, Kliemann took over the research instead, from the “cool” investigative journalism there are no hearts for it.
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