In an interview, professional footballer Jérôme Boateng spoke disparagingly about his ex-girlfriend. She died shortly afterwards. The ex-girlfriend’s mother wanted to have the comments banned retroactively.
The verdict was clear – in favour of professional footballer Jérôme Boateng. Five negative statements in an interview by the former national player about his ex-girlfriend Kasia Lenhardt were legally permissible, the Berlin Higher Regional Court ruled in the second instance. The statements were “not so serious” that they had to be banned, according to the judge.
In the long legal battle, the mother of the ex-girlfriend, who died in 2021, wanted to ensure that Boateng had to make a cease-and-desist declaration for the statements. The court rejected this. The mother’s injunction was therefore unsuccessful in the second instance.
Boateng had previously been prohibited from making a statement by the Berlin Regional Court in November 2022. The current ruling on the five other statements is not yet final, but the court did not allow an appeal. The mother could file an appeal against this with the Federal Court of Justice.
In the interview, Boateng spoke, among other things, about arguments in the relationship. Lenhardt was a finalist in “Germany’s Next Top Model” in 2012 and later had a relationship with Boateng. The interview appeared shortly after the couple separated. In February 2021, her family announced through a lawyer that Kasia Lenhardt was dead. At the time, the police in Berlin confirmed an operation to find a lifeless person who showed no signs of external influence.
Boateng’s comments were “not so grossly hurtful”
Judge Oliver Elzer said that the mother was concerned about her daughter’s “right to respect” even after her death. Boateng’s objectionable statements could be “hurtful,” but they were not “so serious” and “not so grossly hurtful” that they had to be banned and the mother’s claim was justified.
The court explained: “For a violation of the right to postmortem respect, there must be a violation of human dignity.” However, the objectionable statements did not contain any such humiliation or degradation of the deceased and did not violate her human dignity.
The mother had argued that Boateng’s statements distorted her daughter’s image of life. “She wants to prevent statements about her deceased daughter that contain untruths,” explained her lawyer Markus Hennig in the oral hearing a few weeks ago.
Boateng now sees the interview as a mistake
Boateng’s spokesman Thomas Knipp said after the verdict that they welcomed the decision because it would now bring calm to the legal dispute. Boateng knows that the interview was a big mistake, which he regrets and for which he apologizes. Boateng’s lawyer Stephanie Vendt had previously stated in court that the football player does not intend to repeat the statements.
Judge Elzer had emphasized in the oral hearing that it was not about guilt and innocence or who had done what, but about the question of how far one is allowed to speak about others in public – with the special feature that in this case the person concerned had died shortly after making the statements.
The court had proposed a settlement. According to this, Boateng would have had to make a cease-and-desist declaration and the plaintiff would have had to cover the costs of the current proceedings. This agreement did not come about.
Most recently, a criminal case against Boateng made headlines. The Munich Regional Court warned him for intentional bodily harm and imposed a fine of 40 daily rates of 5,000 euros each, subject to probation. Similar to a suspended prison sentence, the 35-year-old only has to pay the 200,000 euros if he violates his conditions. The Munich public prosecutor’s office does not accept the verdict, however, and has appealed.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
