El Hotzo’s tweet on the Trump assassination: Suddenly cancel culture is okay

Opinion

(What) can you still say in Germany? For years, the topic of cancel culture has been brought up every few months. Whether it’s Winnetou, insulting terms for black people or the discussion about the name of a schnitzel with paprika sauce. Freedom of speech – that’s clear to some – is under massive threat. The assassination attempt on Donald Trump last Saturday has sparked another such discussion. Or rather: a tweet from an internet satirist who made tasteless comments about it after the attack.

Suddenly, cancel culture is a good thing for some

Sebastian Hotz, known on the internet as “El Hotzo”, has been posting short anecdotes, jokes or satirical comments on X and other networks every day for several years. Hundreds of thousands of people follow him. His humor always appeals to the tastes of the younger generation, even if he is criticized for it in some cases. He is now a book author, has worked for Jan Böhmermann’s “ZDF Magazin Royale”, and is a podcaster and radio presenter for RBB. And even though his jokes are regularly below the belt, he has drawn the anger of many with a tweet about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, who see him as a substitute target – as the personification of public broadcasting (ÖRR).

In his message, he compared the attack on Trump to a bus attack. “Unfortunately, I just missed it,” he wrote, followed by the comment “I think it’s absolutely fantastic when fascists die.” A front from liberals to right-wing extremists raged. And because you can’t do much against a freelance internet clown, they resorted to the means they never tire of warning about: cancel culture.

“Hotz has to go,” commented some on X. Someone like that shouldn’t be working for ZDF. The fact that Hotz doesn’t currently work for the TV station and has only done so as a freelancer in the past was apparently of no interest to the angry internet mob.

Internet Rambos as a moral authority?

Some users who were outraged just a few days ago that Björn Höcke was fined for publicly uttering an SA slogan are now demanding that he be banned from speaking and that he face professional consequences. Precisely because it suits them this time. Hotz and public broadcasting, as has now been shown once and for all, should be abolished. What an arrogance that the biggest Internet Rambos are now acting as moral authorities. The very people who usually complain that “you can’t say everything in Germany anymore”.

Yes, the tweet was tasteless. Hotz later deleted it himself and rephrased it: “Absolutely nobody is forcing you to feel sorry for fascists, you can just let it go without the slightest consequence,” but by then the damage had already been done.

El Hotzo and an angry mob on the Internet

An assassination attempt on a politician must be condemned with the utmost severity, no matter who it is. Trump, the assassination attempt, all of that is irrelevant to Hotz’s critics. With his tweet, Hotz gave them a supposed argument to justify their hatred of the public broadcaster. And in doing so, they are actually only showing that the constructed discussion about the supposed cancel culture is completely absurd. Because it is always conducted with different standards. If it is “against us” it is the end of freedom of expression and dictatorship, if it is “against them” the punishment cannot be harsh enough.

If so, then the same law must apply to everyone. It remains to be seen whether the judiciary will take action against Hotz because he publicly condoned a crime, as Vice President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Kubicki pointed out. If this is the case, Hotz will have to answer for it. But please let the authorities decide that and not an angry mob on the Internet.