People Gottschalk regrets slapping his son in the face

In the middle of the advertising campaign for his new book, there is a stir about the first book by entertainer Thomas Gottschalk (74). In it, he describes slapping his sons as a way of bringing them up.

Weather expert Jörg Kachelmann is partly responsible for this, who prominently denounced on X: "Thomas Gottschalk is a child abuser. If he had been reported back then, he would be a convicted felon today." As a result, the former "Wetten, dass...?" presenter was heavily criticized online, but there were also understanding and supportive reactions.

Many commented that the two slaps in the face for Gottschalk's sons described in the book "Herbstblond", which was published in 2015, were outrageous and abhorrent. Others, on the other hand, defended Gottschalk, pointing to the parenting methods in use at the time - or argued that "a slap has never hurt anyone". However, parents are prohibited from hitting their children in Germany: Since 2001, the right of children to a non-violent upbringing has been enshrined in the German Civil Code, which includes corporal punishment as well as psychological injuries and other degrading measures.

Support from Hubert Aiwanger

Nevertheless, even Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) jumped to Gottschalk's side: "Dear Mr. Kachelmann, please fire up your wood stove, make yourself a nice potato soup and don't be so nasty to Mr. Gottschalk. Bet you'll feel better then!" he wrote on X.

The discussion was sparked by a passage from the book "Herbstblond" (Autumn Blonde), published in 2015, which is sometimes wrongly attributed online to Gottschalk's new book "Ungefiltert" (Unfiltered), which he is currently promoting. In "Herbstblond", Gottschalk describes how he once "unrestrainedly slapped his son Roman for dropping three scoops of vanilla ice cream in front of the ice cream counter". He slapped his son Tristan because he had committed the "sacrilege" of scratching a Beatles song on the record player in a boutique.

Gottschalk lacks a guilty conscience: "I had to listen to my wife reproach me, because of course the little guy told on me, and my fingerprints stuck pretty well to his cheek. I can't remember having such delicate skin as a child," the passage reads. Gottschalk was initially unavailable for comment on his current view of the events. He wanted to present his new book in Hamburg this Wednesday evening; it is to be the first appearance as part of his reading tour. "Ungefiltert" is Gottschalk's third publication after "Herbstblond" and "Herbstbunt" (2019).

Controversial statements on several occasions

Gottschalk has often caused a stir recently with controversial statements. He no longer takes into account whether what he says is politically correct, Gottschalk emphasized with regard to his new book "Ungefiltert", which he wanted to present on Wednesday evening at the start of his reading tour in Hamburg. He announced that he would live with the consequences of this attitude. "At my age, you no longer have to be 'cool', I've been that all my life."

The entertainer, who used to make jokes about men, recently caused offense with statements about physical contact with female guests, for example with the Spice Girls at the end of the 90s. "I touched women on TV purely for business. Like an actor who kisses in a movie because it's in the script. I won't be accused of that as an attack," he told Der Spiegel. Nevertheless, he wouldn't do that today.

In the same interview, he also described the work ethic of Generation Z, saying that he himself would never have thought of taking his work-life balance seriously straight after school. "You don't need to have seen the world at that age. My mother let me travel to England when I was 17, but I missed out on broadening my world view by visiting Latin America. I don't regret that. Nor do I regret the slaps I received. They didn't do me any harm," Gottschalk told Der Spiegel.

SDA