Reality TV: Germany sizzles as ‘woke mob' takes on ‘Scheiß AfD'

Euractiv

23-07-2025

BERLIN – Few things are as much a seasonal staple for Germans as the annual Sommerinterviews .
For over three decades, the country's public broadcasters have invited political leaders to sit al fresco under the (usually mild) summer sun and answer questions during the lull of the parliamentary recess.
Originally viewed as harmless holiday blah-blah, the tradition is newly controversial, thanks – depending on one's political persuasion – to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the 'woke mob', or both.
An activist group disrupted this year's open-air interview with the AfD's de facto leader, Alice Weidel, reinforcing the party's victim narrative, while unleashing a torrent of criticism towards both the broadcaster and authorities for failing to bring the situation under control. Stage set for protest
During the half-hour interview with German public broadcaster ARD , Weidel was perched on a platform above the Spree river and across from the Reichstag, Berlin's historic glass-domed parliament building.
Though the setting offered a stunning backdrop for the chat, it also meant the far-right firebrand would be exposed to protestors, a prospect that ARD appears to have underestimated . As Weidel sat across from journalist Markus Preiß, the interview was all but drowned out by activists who had gathered in anticipation of Weidel's appearance, on the opposite river bank.
Whistles and chants turned what should have been a sober dialogue into a shouting match.
The activists, led by left-wing collective Zentrum für Politische Schönheit (Centre for Political Beauty), came with a bus equipped with loudspeakers that began blaring a chorus singing "Scheiß AfD" or "The shitty AfD".
During the interview, a visibly irritated Weidel repeatedly said she couldn't hear Preiß, who admitted the interview conditions were 'difficult". Both pressed on, however, curiously opting against relocating the live-to-tape shoot during a short break.
Afterwards, the AfD was enraged. Its deputy parliamentary leader, Markus Frohnmaier, demanded a redo. End of the reverie This wasn't the activists' first high-profile intervention. In 2017, the group erected a replica of Berlin's Holocaust memorial outside the home of Björn Höcke, one of the AfD's most radical figures.
Speaking on a podcast after the Weidel stunt, Centre for Political Beauty leader Philipp Ruch defended the disruption. He argued that the ARD's polite interview with Weidel on policy questions would normalise the party.
Ruch also took aim at the Sommerinterview format itself, calling it a 'non-confrontational, non-investigative' tradition more suited to holiday reverie than political accountability.
Indeed, that's how the Sommerinterview began, bridging what Germans call the "Sommerloch" – German for "silly season" – when political news slows down.
During the comfortable days of West Germany's twilight, German television would film Chancellor Helmut Kohl at his favourite vacation spot overlooking an alpine lake in Austria.
Over time, the questions got tougher but the illusion of a relaxed, summertime atmosphere remained.
Until Weidel. The real winner?
No guest has tested the limits of the format like the AfD leader. The fiasco surrounding the interview triggered a debate over whether she should have been invited at all, considering the extreme nature of her party.
Many politicians argued that the activists played into the AfD's hands.
'If you want to strengthen the AfD, you should disrupt such interviews,' said Carsten Linnemann, general secretary of Germany's ruling Christian Democrats. He argued it's better to confront the AfD with facts than to silence them.
Preiß tried that tack by grilling Weidel on Germany's ailing health insurance system, a test she largely failed. But his back-and-forth with Weidel was difficult to follow amid the din of whistles and music in the background and is unlikely to have made an impression on most viewers.
Weidel's decision to continue the broadcast despite the interference suggests she was aware that the disruption would work in her favour.
By pausing repeatedly due to the noise, Weidel succeeded in dodging some questions. The AfD later portrayed itself as a victim of a hostile system.
Speaking to broadcaster Welt , the party's chief whip Bernd Baumann blamed a collective 'left-green class' for the incident, accusing the activists of colluding with the government (a charge their leader Ruch denied).
If nothing else, the fracas has given Germans something to debate through the Sommerloch.
(mm, mk)