In an interview conducted jointly by APA and “Kronen Zeitung”, he speaks of “absolute madness” with regard to the National Council election results and questions the ability of voters to remember. “You brought this shit on yourself. Now you have to see how you can deal with it. And by shit I don’t just mean the brown shit, but also the existing near-impossibility of forming a sensible, stable government now,” he said Böhmermann on the results of the most recent ballot. He wonders how it could be possible to fall for FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl, who did “terrible things” as interior minister. “Were you all flashed like you did with ‘Men in Black’? How good is the memory of voters in Austria? Apparently not very good.”
Political art is now much more important than before. “Up to this point, political art was often a warning, now it’s time to make political art with the same consistency in a more hostile climate,” says Böhmermann. Although: “It’s a lot more fun, it’s even more exciting. It’s a lot more challenging, you end up in court even quicker, there’s even louder, stupider trouble.”
He explains his great interest in what is happening in Austria with his “deep affection” for the country. “I just like Austrians and have often been in their country since I was a child,” says the satirist. Accordingly, he was personally touched by “what a catastrophe is developing politically in Austria.” But Europe has managed to work its way up from the Dark Ages to Enlightenment and free and liberal democracies. “And despite all the pessimism, we are still a long way from falling back into total darkness,” he says with conviction. But it’s still disappointing “how stupid people are.” On the other hand: “If you look inside yourself and realize how stupid you are, it doesn’t surprise you,” says the 43-year-old, practicing self-reflection.
In any case, on January 28, 2025, Böhmermann will give a concert with the Ehrenfeld Radio Orchestra in the Vienna Stadthalle. Which Böhmermann do you meet there? “If Austria, exhausted by the government negotiations, stares at us with wide eyes and pale faces in the hope that we will bring salvation with a concert, then we are only playing according to the rules,” says the entertainer, hoping for “happy fatalism” in which one falls could fall together.
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