Provokes with book

Gottschalk settles accounts with gender madness and Gen Z

Thomas Gottschalk is provocative with his new book "Ungefiltert" (Unfiltered), in which he takes on Gen Z and gendering, among other things.

(Bild: picturedesk.com/wcrART, wcrART / Action Press )

He no longer has to be "cool" - and not politically correct either: Thomas Gottschalk (74) is currently promoting his new book "Ungefiltert" (Unfiltered). In it, the show host reveals his thoughts on the hype surrounding Taylor Swift, the RTL jungle camp and his departure from "Wetten, dass...?". The subtitle also talks about confessions. Self-criticism is not one of them. 

His book, which will be published on Wednesday, is for all those who are a little embarrassed to speak differently than they would think, says the entertainer to the German Press Agency. "I have often met people like this and like to refer to them as the 'silent majority' and have long belonged to this group myself. Even if some interviewers put me in a right-wing corner or consider me 'uncool'."

"Women touched purely for official reasons"
The entertainer 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 can't be accused of that as an attack," he told Der Spiegel. Nevertheless, he wouldn't do that today.

In his book, he writes that he was also made the embarrassing forefather of the gentleman's joke. In this case, he admits to a few slips of the tongue that would never slip out today, he continues. "Certain things no longer fit in with the times, whether I see it that way or not doesn't matter, as an entertainer you are only obliged to the public's taste," says the 74-year-old TV presenter. "If they change, you have to change too." At the same time, he also emphasizes: "'I have no regrets'."

Reckoning with gender madness and Gen Z
Gottschalk, who is one of Germany's best-known entertainers, had already written two books before "Ungefiltert": "Herbstblond" from 2015 and "Herbstbunt" from 2019. In the passages on the 319 pages of his new book, he comes across as a time traveler who is struggling with the present. Many of the topics he addresses are and have been discussed many times before. In the foreword entitled "Dear readers", he wonders about gendering.

Last year, Thomas Gottschalk said goodbye to "Wetten, dass...?". "I have no regrets," he says now.

(Bild: Philipp von Ditfurth / dpa / picturedesk.com)

"When I greet my 'viewers', I mean everyone. Old and young. Homosexuals as well as heterosexuals, rich and poor," he says. "They feel it too, and I get it confirmed again and again," emphasizes the entertainer, who has since moved back to Bavaria from Baden-Baden in Germany. Why should he do mental capers or do what might earn him points with some people as "gendering" just because the zeitgeist demands it of him?

In another chapter, he takes a closer look at Generation Z, which is in favor of work-life balance instead of a career. "I have to admit that I am also one of those who ask themselves anxiously: ,... and how is this supposed to go on?" This generation is lost to television. "Gen-Z doesn't want to know anything about television anymore."

Son's Mickey Mouse tattoo a horror
It's not just young people who get their comeuppance in Gottschalk's new work, the younger of his two sons also has to put up with a lot because of his "horrible collection of tattoos on his body, one of which doesn't match the other". There's a Mickey Mouse caricature next to Gothic lettering.

He not only has a problem with the mix of styles - he also doesn't want to understand why a person would want to go through life with a Mickey Mouse on their body, writes the entertainer.

Gottschalk no longer has to be "cool"
When you read his book, you have two options, says Gottschalk. "You can agree with me or have a completely different opinion. Either is fine with me." You can't learn anything from him. "I wrote it for anyone who is interested in my thoughts on the current situation in show business."

So far, he has always said what has guaranteed him the most applause, Gottschalk continued. "At my age, you don't have to be 'cool' anymore, I've been cool all my life." 

A reading tour will also take Thomas Gottschalk to Vienna on October 23.