“Kevin – Alone in New York”: Racism in German Synchro

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No wonder that Thelma Buabeng vent her anger: “How can it be that a German dubbing studio comes up with completely unnecessary racist translations for a children’s or family film,” she writes angrily. And further: “Actually made up, because in the English original there is neither the language of the I-word nor the N-word. That cannot be surpassed in ignorance and disrespect for indigenous people and black people.”

Thelma Buabeng asks – Netflix actually responds

“That has to be changed urgently,” says Thelma Buabeng quite rightly. “Above all, films for children shouldn’t contain these terms,” ​​she continues – she is by no means the only one who feels this way: “Some have written to me that they were sitting in front of the television with their children and completely horrified didn’t know how to explain it. “

She asked whether something like this could not be re-psychronized – including a hashtag #Netflix and a lot of positive user comments. And actually: The Actress is contacted by Netflix, as she announced on Instagram a few days ago.

Thelma Buabeng speaks longer with a woman from the company and writes: “She thanked me for my post on behalf of Netflix and apologized for the synchronization.” Netflix wants to ensure that the synchronization is changed the next time it is broadcast.

Too many films with similar problems

This is a good start – even if there is still a lot to do in this direction, as Thelma Buabeng writes: “(…) I myself (…) had the experience in a dubbing studio that made me very angry and stunned I was supposed to be dubbing a Sudanese woman who spoke perfect British English in the original. But I was asked to speak in German with an accent, “reports the 39-year-old, who adds:” As you know, I am, by the way from Ghana, occasionally noted. ” When she asked why she should do this, she was told that was what Netflix wanted.

Another “and best-known example is the clown-like dubbing voice of Eddie Murphy”, Thelma Buabeng writes: “His original voice has absolutely nothing in common with the caricature in German.” Unfortunately, there are still many examples where BIPoCs (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) have to speak with a ridiculous accent in German.

Thelma Buabeng also discussed this with Netflix. She sums it up on Instagram as follows: “Netflix would like to prevent this form of synchronization in the future, is aware of the above-mentioned allegations and wants to address these problems in a targeted manner in the future.
Since the dubbing industry is still far from diverse enough, Netflix wants to support the growth of BIPoC speakers in the future. “

Bravo, Thelma Buabeng! And good, Netflix. Hopefully something really happens here.

See here again how Donald Trump was removed from “Kevin – Alone in New York” by users via Twitter. The ideas are sometimes really funny!

You are truly never too old to take action against right-wing ideology and racism: These grandmas go demonstrating and prove that it is not a question of age to defend yourself peacefully! We have two more great stories about strong women for you here: This woman shows the tricks that many use to cheat. And do you know the story of Alex Hölzl? “As a non-binary person, I’ve been called a ‘gender-confused idiot'”, she told BILD der FRAU in an interview.

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