Entertainer with new book: “Unfiltered” – Gottschalk provokes with a new book

He no longer has to be “cool” – and not politically correct either: Thomas Gottschalk (74) is currently advertising his new book “Unfiltered”. In it, the showmaster reveals his thoughts on the hype surrounding Taylor Swift, the RTL jungle camp and his farewell to “Wetten,dass..?”. The subtitle also mentions confessions. Self-critical tones are not one of them.

The entertainer tells the German Press Agency that his book is for everyone who is a little embarrassed to speak differently than they think. “I have met such people very often and I like to refer to them as the “silent majority” and have been part of this group myself for a long time. Even if some interviewers put me in a right-wing corner or see me as “uncool”. “

Committed to public taste

Most recently, the entertainer made offensive statements about physical contact with female guests, such as the Spice Girls at the end of the 90s. “I touched women on TV purely for work purposes. Like an actor who kisses in a film because it’s in the script. I won’t let that be accused of being an attack,” he told “Spiegel”. Nevertheless, he would leave it alone today.

In his book he writes that he was also made into the embarrassing forefather of gentlemen’s jokes. In this case he would plead guilty to a number of slip-ups that would no longer slip out of him today, he continues. “Certain things no longer fit the times, whether I see it that way or not doesn’t matter, as an entertainer you are only obliged to the audience’s taste,” says the 74-year-old TV presenter. “If he changes, you have to change too.” At the same time, he also emphasizes: “I don’t regret anything.”

Gen-Z and gender

Gottschalk, who is one of the best-known German entertainers, had already written two books before “Unfiltered”: “Herbstblond” from 2015 and “Herbstbunt” from 2019. In the passages of the 319 pages of his new book, he seems like a time traveler struggles with the present. Many of the topics he addresses are and have been discussed many times. In the foreword entitled “Dear Readers” he wonders about gender.

“When I greet my ‘viewers’, I mean everyone. Old and young. Homosexuals as well as straights, poor and rich,” he says. “They feel it too and I get it confirmed again and again,” emphasizes the entertainer, who has now moved back to Bavaria from Baden-Baden. Why should he make mental capers or do things that might get him points with some people as “gendered” just because the spirit of the times demands it of him?

In another chapter he takes a closer look at Generation Z, who are in favor of work-life balance instead of a career. “I have to admit that I am also one of those who anxiously ask themselves: “… and how is this supposed to continue?” This generation is lost to television. “Gen-Z no longer wants to know anything about television. “

Mickey Mouse tattoo from son also theme

It’s not just the youth who get rid of their fat in Gottschalk’s new work, the younger of his two sons also has to listen to a lot because of his “horrific collection of tattoos on his body, one of which doesn’t match the other.” There’s a Mickey Mouse caricature sitting next to gothic lettering. He doesn’t just have a problem with the mix of styles – he also doesn’t want to understand that a person wants to go through life with a Mickey Mouse on their body, writes the entertainer.

When you read his book, you have two options, says Gottschalk. “You can have my opinion or have a completely different one. Both are fine with me.” You can’t learn anything from him. “I wrote it for anyone who is interested in my thoughts on the current state of show business.” Until now, Gottschalk continued, he had always said what guaranteed him the greatest applause. “At my age you don’t have to be ‘cool’ anymore, I’ve been that way all my life.”