Luke Mockridge caused outrage with jokes about disabled athletes. The comedian has since apologized – but his hosts have so far remained silent.
It was only about three and a half minutes, which was enough to bring Luke Mockridge into public criticism once again. The comedian was already a guest on the podcast “Die Deutschen” by his comedy colleague Nizar and YouTuber Shayan Garcia in mid-August. The men discussed many topics. For example, dealing with hate on social networks, the alleged cancel culture in various countries and experiences of racism. After about three quarters of an hour, they started talking about the Paralympic Games. A few sentences and a few jokes followed, which probably cost Mockridge his TV show on Sat.1.
Luke Mockridge’s jokes about para-athletes cause shitstorm
The jokes about people with disabilities were flat, stupid and deeply offensive and discriminatory, according to the tenor. Multiple Olympic gold medalist and world champion in track cycling, Kristina Vogel, was the first to point out the statements made by Nizar, Garcia and Mockridge. Many users were outraged by this. Friedhelm Julius Beucher, President of the German Disabled Sports Association and the National Paralympic Committee, told “Bild”: “This video [des s, Anm. Red.] is a cheap, rude discrimination that is only being told like this for the sake of quotas! I find it tasteless.” Para-athletes such as shot putter and silver medalist Niko Kappel expressed similar views.
Mockridge himself apologized for his appearance a short time later, but he will probably not be able to avert the damage for the time being. His television station Sat.1 canceled a planned show with him. His statements did not fit with the station’s values, according to a spokesman.
But it is still very quiet around the two hosts of the podcast. Neither of them has commented on the discussion so far. Even a request from the star remained unanswered. But who are the hosts anyway?
hosts approach serious topics with humor
Nizar and Shayan Garcia have been hosting the podcast “Die Deutschen” since mid-2019. Since then, they have had a meteoric career. On YouTube alone, between 60,000 and 400,000 people now listen and watch when the two hosts speak in pairs or with top-class guests such as Mario Barth, the rappers KC Rebell and Sido or NFL professional Marcel Dabo.
It is noteworthy that the podcast’s topics are very diverse. In some episodes, Nizar and Garcia talk about memories from their childhood or TV shows, in others they deal with serious topics such as domestic violence, racism, relationship issues or the dangers of cosmetic surgery. Their fans obviously like the fact that the two use an almost childlike sense of humor to provide an easy approach to difficult topics.
In some cases, this approach seems to work well. The comments under many videos are full of enthusiastic viewers who explain that the easy-going nature of the discussion made them interested in complicated topics and that they are now much more sensitive.
In some discussions, however, the jokes seem out of place and trivializing or, as in the case of para-athletes, simply discriminatory.
The hosts are obviously taking the risk of a shitstorm into account. After the recording with Luke Mockridge, Nizar wrote on X: “He brought out a really disgusting side. I’m looking forward to the whining.” It is questionable whether he would say something like that again today. As “Der Spiegel” reports, the language learning app “Babbel” canceled its sponsorship contract with the podcast because of the statements in the episode with Mockridge.
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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.
