Did the Geissens cancel Wendler? RTL2 tilts birth docu-soap

It was a battle of reality giants, a real celebrity death match: the Wendler against the Geissens. So Michael & Laura versus Robert & Carmen. Result: The Geissens are on the winning side. human and moral. Who would have thought.

But first of all: For almost 24 hours, the Wendlers can dream of a return to private German television, from which they were released in 2020 due to rude statements about the corona pandemic (he compared the measures taken by the government to the situation in a concentration camp, among other things) .

Reason for this: Wendler’s wife Laura is pregnant. And: he announced on Monday that he would leave the Telegram news channel after denying Corona for two years and downplaying the war in Ukraine. There is something optimistic to be gained from this, the management of RTL2 thought, a clean new start, so to speak, and announced the docu-soap ‘Michael Wendlers Babyglück’ on Tuesday.

The responses come immediately. Anja Rützel, the trash TV columnist of “Spiegel”, calls RTL2 “completely dishonorable” in a tweet.

And the Geissens, since 2011 the great booster in terms of reality on RTL2, report on Instagram with a clear statement from the Maldives. Either Wendler or us is their condition.

“The shocking news of the new docu-soap format ‘Baby-Glück’ reached us this morning while we were filming for our format in the Maldives. We strongly distance ourselves from corona deniers and people who call Germany a ‘concentration camp’. Conspiracy ideological statements are not our style. Even if that meant the Geissens stopped on RTL2!», writes Robert Geiss.

The parent company RTL also distances itself from the plans of the daughter channel and announces that Wendler’s baby happiness will not be shown online on RTL + before and after the TV broadcast.

Wendler goes on the defensive. On his wife’s Instagram profile, he posts a story in which he distances himself from racism and anti-Semitism and apologizes for previous statements.

RTL2 assured other media early Wednesday morning: “He assured us that he wanted a new start with his young family and was not an extremist”, and “The fact is: RTL2 does not give a platform to statements by lateral thinkers or other radical points of view.” .”

Around noon, RTL2 reports the end. The broadcaster reports the following: “We have noticed the intensity of the reactions and take the voices of our audience seriously. We apologize if we have any hurt feelings here. RTL2 has always distanced itself from all kinds of extremism and stands for open-mindedness and tolerance. It is important for us to avoid even the appearance that the broadcaster is willing to compromise here. That’s why we’re not going to continue the project with Michael Wendler.”

(SME)