Reaction To Varoufakis and the Fake Finger

[@juxtapoxymoron]

When Böhmermann got all the heat for the Erdogan "poem", Yannis Varufakis was one of the first to speak up for Jan 😊

[@Gebirges]

To incite the Turks against the Greek, a classic lol

[@noisy8937]

@@Gebirges no to show the difference how democratic politicians reacts on journalists mucking them

[@arthur_p_dent]

@@Gebirges no. To take a stand in favour of freedom of the press, which has been heavily in jeopardy in Turkey as of late.

[@Gebirges]

@@arthur_p_dent ​ @noisy8937 you guys don't understand a simple historical joke, do you?

[@arthur_p_dent]

@@Gebirges Sorry. I've seen WAY too many butthurt Erdogan fanboys say this and actually mean it.

[@davidkuhlcke1203]

The #varoufake is so much more meta: Indeed the whole video was a fake. Varoufakis did "stick the finger to germany". The whole point was, that Jauch fixated on the finger and didn't intent to discuss the economical issues with Varoufakis. The damaged honor of germany dominated the whole interview. And that was Böhmermann's point. So he faked the fake.

[@ando5053]

more than a week there were discussions in Germany what (video) can be trusted and which not. Even bevor nowadays faking quite easily videos with AI., Finally it was proven that the first video was real and Böhmermann and Co faked it in the show. That was (to my knowledge) the first german wide recognition of Böhmermann in the media.

[@ThomasVWorm]

Varoufakis did stick the finger - it is obviously his finger - but not to Germany. I did see the original video this snippet had been taken from. In this video Varoufakis explained, that a prior greek government could have behaved different than it did and in opposition to what Germany did expect from Greece. So the middle finger illustrated the other option. But both did not: nor the Greek government mentioned nor Varoufakis himself. So the true fake was the context Jauch did put this snippet into. And this is what Varoufake is all about.

[@woidlbbro3631]

@davidkuhlcke1203 That's right, I agree with you. It was also a clear signal to Günther Jauch (who is considered one of the 5 most successful and competent moderators in Germany) and his team of journalists, who reported so badly and did not recognize this fake. How embarrassing it must have been for Günther Jauch when he found out the truth, that he hosted an entire talk show on the subject and spoke to politicians, believing the video was real. I'm sure this rightfully cost several people on his team their jobs! A humiliation for Jauch because he didn't question things and didn't demand any proof, but simply did what the director whispered in his ear. Jan Böhmermann showed everyone that even the best showmasters just parrot what is presented to them without questioning anything. @Who Is Mert? I know all this because I'm German, more precisely from Bavaria, near Michael Mittermeier's home :) ...in Bavaria many people think like Mittermeier

[@ThomasVWorm]

​​@@woidlbbro3631it was not only the video. The whole Jauch talk show was set up like a tribunal against Varoufakis and therefore by purpose meant to be blunt propaganda.

[@NSA.Monitored.Device]

​​@@woidlbbro3631You still didn't get it: The video Jauch did show was real, also the middle finger. Böhmermann didn't fake that. He faked the fake. THAT was the media stunt. Jauch did put the original scene out of context, but that actually happened. Another proof that people from Bavaria are like people from Norfolk.

[@Ookami31]

People were really angry about the finger and after the Böhmermann-Video was released there were a lot of discussions if the Varoufakis video was real or faked. Prople started questioning if the Böhmermann video about faking the video was a fake itself. So nobody knew what to believe and the press finally dropped the topic, because they didn't know what sources to trust anymore. It was a great prank and showcased how much people will focus on their offended vanity instead discussiong actual political problems.

[@DerKiesch]

It kind of shifted the discussion back from style to facts. I mean, since it was not clear if the finger was real or not, commenters were forced to actually discuss the issue itself and shift away from the question if "sticking the finger at Germany" is appropriate or not. Great idea, well executed and important context.

[@ArneBab]

It would have been easy to find out: just send a journalist to the Böhmermann team and let them show the raw sources they used.

[@neokio.f]

Yes this is what Böhmermann is doing best, creating confusion. Is it in any way useful to know, we shouldn't believe anything coming from so called media this days? Too me that's the best way making himself obsolete. I don't watch his show often. He is too much into creating pranks and raising tension ... for very little effect to the viewers. As if this type of entertainment in social media is quality or opens anyones eyes. Too me it looks like he loves this exercising compation and attention with little content or news for just being in the middle of some likes or forwards. Maybe that's enough, in his mission on air. 🤑 I had some sympathy for Varoufakis regarding the EU finance crisis, as all this happened cause US rating firms had given Greek AAA, credit loans for years, saying they are still good to pay back, but even Schroeder knew, there is a problem, but he let them join Euro, then the Greek upper class thought the bank treasure is open free to grab. It looked like the US bankers had a plan making the € weaker, even the Saudis thought of investing more in € and EU, sure this wasn't in the interest of the US finance. There is no big EU rating agency still.😒 Just ECAI and ESMA, but we all know they are not effective, see Wirecard❗

[@ArneBab]

@@neokio.f Böhmermann showed that other shows did far too little fact checking. That is an important function in media.

[@neokio.f]

@@ArneBab so true, there are not many doing that work, like Panorama or alike used to do. And its the kind social media approach "... Do not waste too much time for a deep dive!" Its just casual market or Stammtisch short talk

[@TheUlli1964]

Never take the BILD serious. This is really the worst kind of journalism.

[@l33tnobody1337]

I'd argue it borders on not being Journalism at all

[@FutureChaosTV]

The lie, cheat, fake and promote hatespeech. The "Bild" should be outlawed! It has nothing to do with journalism! And anyone getting their degree/apprenticeship at the Axel Springer Verlag (the company publishing the "Bild") should not be allowed to call themselves "Journalist"!

[@HG_Budde]

​@@l33tnobody1337And you would be right.

[@MitmachGaming]

You're too polite to call it journalism.

[@FenrirAlter]

It's not even journalism.

[@miztazed]

Yes, please do the #verafake next. It's hilarious and shows how scripted reallity shows work on the costs of poor people.

[@ElkeSiegburg]

The Verafake-Episode definitely is a must see. The take on Varoufakis/Jauch was brilliant . And it's appreciated how you dive into German satire👌

[@Chuckiele]

Yep, wanna see that, too. Absolutely brilliant.

[@TheGrizzle420]

Can’t wait for him to react to Vera-fake!! It‘s gonna be hilarious😂😂

[@Schmudini]

This guy who believes that the footage is real is from the "Bild", which is equal to the "Sun" in the UK. Yellow Press. Makes it even more funny.

[@pami333]

But BILD has the best experts! No other experts get even close to them! In fact, the experts at BILD are the only experts on this whole planet!!!1

[@SamWinchester000]

I actually wondered wether that Bild "expert" wasn't a faked part of that prank, as well. Why should he speak English, the story was only relevant to Germans, but letting an "international pseudo-expert" speak for Bild in English would be the perfect satirical joke here. Just like that other commentater who also seemed very bullshit satirical.

[@CoL_Drake]

He thought it was real because.. it was real. This whole show was the fake the non finger video was faked

[@karowolkenschaufler7659]

the "das war kroatisch"="that was croatian" is funny to germans because most of us grew up watching an educational show for kids that airs every sunday. it has clips showing how things work and how everyday goods are produced, mixed with nice stories/illustrated songs for children. it's called "sendung mit der Maus"="the show with the mouse" because an orange mouse is like the patron saint of the show and has the most funny inbetween-clips. and in the beginning of that show you first get a preview of what will be in the show in german and then in some other language. the maker started that because the show started when immigrant workers started to come to germany and the makers wanted the kids to at least have an idea about what they will see. and after the preview in the other language you get told what language it is. so it becomes a guessing game as well. that is why "das war ..." "this was... " out of that context is funny to most germans. and with the heavock the european laws wrecked in greece, thet german government had pushed for... we totally deserved that finger. to get upset about that is such "kleinkariert"="petty" (word by word=small checkered) thing to do...

[@NSA.Monitored.Device]

Varoufakis sagte in dieser Rede, dass man Deutschland eben nicht einfach "den Finger" zeigen kann. Das hat Jauch unterschlagen.

[@eldoktore6634]

Wir können froh sein über eine solch gute Unterhaltung wie die Heute Show, das Neo Magazin, die Anstalt und Extra 3. Großartiger Humor und leider vieles wahr.

[@captainlanguste]

Ernsthaft Gott sei Dank haben wir TV Sendungen die schlecht recherchieren und dann Leute vor verurteilen. Gott sei Dank! (Ironie aus)

[@asakku635]

Jetzt bin ich verwirrt!

[@eldoktore6634]

@@captainlanguste Zu solchen Sendungen gehören die, die ich erwähnt habe, zum Glück nicht. Oder machst du das an einem konkreten Beispiel fest?

[@ChaosXeronix]

dafür zahl ich gerne GEZ :D Der Rest ist teilweise echt einfach nur bescheuert. Für Jeden Tatort könnt ich mir denken was eine Verschwendung... Für Alles was du aufgezählt hast. Einfach danke das es sowas gibt.

[@eldoktore6634]

@@ChaosXeronix Danke. Mit dem Tatort und etlichen weiteren Formaten geht´s mir wie dir. Dazu hab ich irgendwie eine Abneigung gegen in Deutschland produzierte Filme der Landesanstalten oder deutsche Unterhaltungsshows.

[@realkhranyewest4627]

verafake is the best, the show he pranked actually got canceled because of that

[@Metalfreakch]

jep he is right, also he was part of the fall of the Austria Gouvernment. He and his Team are the best

[@lanieschatz]

Yes, but I reckon it requires a bit of background information on german trash TV series or at least this one specific show.

[@clemensa3351]

No thats not true. There is still a new season (almost) every year

[@realkhranyewest4627]

@@clemensa3351 but the production shut down since then didnt it?

[@realkhranyewest4627]

@@Metalfreakch trruuueee i forgot about that one

[@ArielVHarloff]

Günther Jauch is most well known for hosting the German version of who wants to be a millionaire. He also hosted a bunch of talk shows but people take him really seriously, I'm not sure why exactly XD

[@Vampirzaehnchen]

Jauch is not the dumbest person in german television. But he also is only a human being and can't research everything on hiw own, so he has to rely on others every now and then, too. I actually don't know how Jauch reacted to the fake, but I think he was something like "Oh, hmh, so it was really fake, huh? Damn they got me."

[@DerKiesch]

Well, for starters he was a well versed sports journalist too, who had the "privilege" to moderate the champions league final where the goal fell before the match (so they moderated a "non match" for 90 minutes until finally the goal had been re-erected. And of course before who wants to be a millionaire he also did SternTV - kind of an investigative / news show. Serious TV. So yeah to a younger audience he IS best known for who wants to be a millionaire because he more or less stopped his other activities in TV or at least shifted to less serious TV nowadays.

[@Catzee]

You should know the double twist: The video with the finger is real. Varoufakis just couldn't remember. They faked the video without the finger als sold is as faking the finger video, just to confuse everyone. This was an awesome stunt.

[@SvenScholz]

@lpschaf8943 jepp. Was doppelt zeigt, wie aufgebauscht diese Sache damals war. Und ein bisschen unbeabsichtigtes, aber grade aus heutiger Sicht, in der "fill the media with bullshit" ein Propagandamittel ist, um maximale Verwirrung zu stiften und jeden Glauben an Fakten zu unterminieren, meta-meta, weil am Ende keiner mehr wusste, was jetzt stimmt und was nicht. Und in diesem Fall aber eben auch soo deutlich zeigte, wie irrelevant die Story war, auf die wochenlang wirklich alle Medien ihre volle Aufmerksamkeit setzten anstatt auf die tatsächlichen Probleme der damaligen Geschehnisse.

[@NormanTheDormantDoormat]

"Später stellte sich heraus, dass das Video echt war, was auch von den Organisatoren des Subversiv-Festivals in Zagreb, wo das Video entstand, bestätigt wurde." Laut Wikipedia: Neo_Magazin_Royale

[@Scheater1337]

@lpschaf8943 It's true. They trolled everyone by pretending like they faked it. They wanted to show how easy it is to cause an outrage by taking irrelevant stuff out of context when you don't want to discuss about the actual current issues. I mean, what difference would it make to what he said whether it is middle fiinger, index finger or no finger? Varoufakis probably just made the gesture subconsciously and didn't even think of it. But they intentionally surprised him with it during a German live show, so he defaulted to the least risky reaction - which was just calling it fake. I mean, what else could he have said? "I meant what I said, but I didn't mean it as an insult. If you look at the full context, you'd see that it is not just meant as an insult." - well, that doesn't work in politics and media.

[@ThomasVWorm]

Was man aber noch dazu sagen muss - die Szene wurde von Jauch komplett aus dem Kontext gerissen. Varoufakis hatte im Original nicht den Deutschen den Stinkefinger gezeigt. Es ging um eine vorherige Regierung und dass die auch sich anders hätte verhalten können und damit gegen das, was Deutschland von ihr erwartete.

[@OnChords]

were can you read about this?

[@Chuulip]

The best part about this whole thing is that the video WITH the finger is actually real, they just faked the one without the finger. Regarding the Verafake video: this is probably my favorite of his fakes but in oder to understand it you should get familiar with the TV show. Vera is the host of a trash TV dating show. She herself presents as super sophisticated and smart and empathetic. The show is about, sorry, nutcases looking for partners. The show is called "Schwiegertochter gesucht" (looking for a daughter in law) and basically lived off of the unbelievable weirdness of its contestants (?). Basically the show aimed at making the people participating into a laughing stock for people to enjoy and feel better about their own lives watching this. It received lots of criticism before already for exploiting possibly mentally impaired people or showcasing well... weird people for the enjoyment of the viewers.

[@RichiSpilleso]

I am very excited on his reaction on that because its one of the best because of the insane amount of prep that went into it.

[@Chuulip]

@RichiSpilleso I'm so sad that he didn't react to it yet. He said he would check it out next but he didn't 😂 I can't wait for him to see it. It's just brilliant.

[@DocCamacho]

Ah I remember that episode. When I remember correctly, this was the first time Böhmermanns show got huge popularity for this, even internationally. The video of Varoufakis was in each mainstream media, there was so much pressure on Varoufakis who always said he didn't do this (at that time there was much pressure on the Greeks due to the financial crisis). And then. Boom. Böhmermann told it was a fake. It was quite awesome really. But then, it turns out, the video was real und Böhmermanns action was just absolute media satire on highest level. Those turns in that story really are satire champions league.

[@jx4219]

>But then, it turns out, the video was real what? So he did actually stick the finger and they faked it out like in a double cross? Is that what you are saying?

[@karionwhite2367]

​@@jx4219this is what he is saying

[@tamarah6663]

Das Narrativ, dass Varoufakis den Finger doch gezeigt hat, und Böhmermann die Fälschung nur vorgetäuscht hat, wurde damals auch schon gern von Leuten weiterverbreitet, die sich nicht eingestehen wollten, selbst hereingelegt worden zu sein. Es ließ sich aber schon damals nicht belegen. Varoufakis hat den Finger NICHT gezeigt!

[@tamarah6663]

​@@karionwhite2367but it isn't true!

[@Hamsterdam91]

​@@tamarah6663the ZDF confirmed that the fake was a fake and the finger was real

[@Cocachin123]

As some have already mentioned, this is a fake fake. They didn't fake the middlefinger video, they faked the confession about faking it. The point of it all, as Jan points out towards the end, is that the German public focused far too much on Varoufakis' insult and too little on why so many Greeks were upset with Germany at that time. It shouldn't matter if he showed the middlefinger. That kind of meta humour is quite typical of him.

[@NSA.Monitored.Device]

Fun fact was, that Varoufakis mentioned that this - stick the finger to Germany - is in the current situation NO VALID option. But Jauch left that out and put his speech in a totally different context. It's like leaving out the not in a not joke... "But you just said: you f'ed your sister." - "And then not." - "Yes but before..." - "..."

[@kimiOfDieLinke]

The brilliant plot that "he faked it" and some people believed it was a fake - while the none-finger one is the fake - just brilliant :D :D :D Verafake is a great slaughter of BS reality shows, showing how poor people get ripped off. Absolutely worth to watch.

[@kathis6840]

Moment, welches war jetzt echt?

[@Deezexx]

Varoufakis hat wirklich den Finger gezeigt, deshalb war der "Fake" auch so gut. Der Witz ist, dass die Version ohne Finger die gefälschte ist und es nur noch sehr schwer zu erkennen ist was letztendlich real ist.@@kathis6840

[@Liguehunters]

@@kathis6840 Der Mittelfinger war wirklich echt. Eines von Böhmermanns größten Volltreffer

[@kathis6840]

@@Liguehunters Ah, wusste ich nicht. Danke

[@_Pitt_]

That one was awesome. The Böhmermann team received the most prestigious media award in Germany for this #varoufake (the Grimme Preis).

[@absolutllost]

That someone from BILD was confused means little. They are known to spread rumors and misinformation

[@xxJOKeR75xx]

Imo this and Verafake is some of the best work Boehmermann ever did. It's worth watching his show every week just because you get a banger like this occasionally.

[@username9774]

Lass dich überwachen is on the same level but yes

[@xraptor94x]

Oooh i remember that. Back then i was in a completely differently mindset (and way dumber when it came to politics) then today. I actually was really mad when everyone reported about the finger. And i was even more mad when i heard that it was Böhmermann fooling me and millions other people 😂. Today i think completely different and when i read about how it came to the economical issues in Greece, i actually think now Varoufakis would have been completely justified if he really would have done that because German banks played a significant role that led to the financial crisis for Greece.

[@MannIchFindKeinName]

This. I was too young and not yet appreciated daily politics and history, i was so mad.

[@Yvert86]

Plot Twist: Nobody knows 100% which the real and the fake version is. There is a good chance that Varoufakis actually DID show the finger and then Böhmermann took the opportunity of him denying it, to fake a stunt in which they created it.

[@arthur_p_dent]

Actually we do know that Böhmermann faked the fake. It took the ZDF not an hour after the show was first broadcast to point that out. Which is a pity. For the sake of satire, it would have been far better to leave the question in the open.

[@NormanTheDormantDoormat]

According to the wikipedia article of Neo_Magazin_Royale the finger was real and it was confirmed by the subversiv festival.

[@ThomasVWorm]

Then you did not understand the story. 1. Varoufakis did show the finger like in the video. But in a complete different context: he did explain, how the Greek government in the past could have reacted in contrast to like it really did. So the middle finger was nothing but a metaphor in his story. The video was made, before he became minister of finance and his story refers to a prior government. I watched the original at that time to see, what it all was about. 2. in the Jauch show they showed a short scene of this video with a narrator, creating a complete different context. This was practically the real fake. And they confronted then Varoufakis with it who is in contrast to this video a very friendly person. Also this show was setup like a tribunal where he was given the role of the defendant. So what Jauch did was absolutely disgusting. 3. Böhmermann then pretended that he did let create the fake in which they make Varoufakis show the middlefinger. So he made Jauch think, that the only thing, which had a little bit of truth in Jauchs fake video, was a fake too. Am Ende 11:30 erklärt er es sogar noch einmal selbst, ohne die Sache komplett aufzulösen, weil er ja auf die Verwirrung gespannt war, die er so stiften wollte.

[@arthur_p_dent]

@@ThomasVWorm gute Zusammenfassung. Leider hat das ZDF die Sache sehr schnell aufgelöst, ich meine keine Stunde nach Ausstrahlung der Sendung.

[@ThomasVWorm]

@@arthur_p_dent ja, bei der ARD war man aber trotzdem einige Tage verwirrt.

[@crazycatmyri]

varoufake and verafake are the best I've ever seen on tv. The genious thing about Varoufake is that you never get a definitve answer which version is the fake. Brilliant!

[@jotwee63]

The fake is fake, just genius and too funny 😂

[@fs6950]

What I like is that when Jahn Böhmermann make a fake, he says it a week later. He makes a good satire Job, somtimes on the edge but he ist always honest in what he is doing and what he wanted to show with his action.

[@mabus4910]

Verafake was a great moment of TV history. I think it is also a bit easier to understand without knowing the whole context.

[@smilingwisdom]

You are going to love Verafake.

[@ZerosWolf]

HI Mert! Your German pronunciation is getting better and better. Small tip: A german "a" always sounds like in the English" word "dark". Keep it up!

[@mynameiskal]

no it doesn't?

[@FutureChaosTV]

​@@mynameiskal Gegenbeispiel?

[@heidelbaerin4995]

You really really have to do "Comedians for Worldpeace extended Version" and ""Be Deutsch" - both from Jan Böhmerman. The first one is really a masterpiece of European Comedians that work together in the hope for peace. I cry every time, watching it. Love your Videos - thank you a lot!

[@pixelbartus]

and of course "V for Varoufakis"

[@Joachim2012]

@@pixelbartus "V for Varoufakis" is absolutely brilliant!

[@mortimer5939]

Most funny part for me was the video specialist especially from BILD confirming it has to be real. This is irony at its best on so many levels. 🤣

[@TierchenF95]

For me the best thing about it is that it shows that you can't believe everything you're shown or told and you can never stop questioning things.

[@Atlan03]

... is anyone else getting itchy because Merts earpieces are always entangled?

[@stefan.defiman]

The finger-scene was a big thing in the press in Germany. Nearly every newspaper and political talking shows were discussing it. And also at the highest level in politics

[@stefan.defiman]

And it was taken as a fact until Jan Böhmermann exposed it after a long time

[@zombee0036]

it is still not known if he "doctored" the finger in or out of the video. The point of this was humiliating all the big shows making this very little, years old, thing into something massive. and yes. whichever of them is real, it is reaaaaly hard to identify the fake, in my opinion even impossible. and verafake is even better in my opinion

[@darkredanarcho4873]

Varoufakis hat Deutschland auch gar nicht beleidigt. Man hat seinen Kommentar ohne Kontext gezeigt. (Um die dämlichen Deutschen zur Empörung zu treiben)

[@simply_flo]

It is known by now. Varoufakis posted the real video himself. He did stick the finger to germany. So Böhmermann's fake was fake. A masterpiece!

[@konstantin7596]

It was very much known since like exactly then the latest 😅. It’s actual footage from the subversive festival, which he also tells if you read between the lines (and can be found). It was always about taking it out of reference and completely focusing on this emotional and not factual debate. (and the German obsession to trigger the “how dare you”+”rulers of Europe button” in each living room…)

[@Arsenic71]

I wasn't even aware of that. I mean being German I can somewhat understand the outrage. We do not generally question anything the media show us. And if someone owes you money and then gives you the finger and tells you to eff off, that's a sore point for Germany. Germans hate debt, even the word is negative: Schulden. It's based on Schuld (which also means guilt). But the main takeaway from this is that you can't and shouldn't trust everything you see in public TV. And for gods sake, don't touch BILD ever. Thanks for the video, really genuine reaction there 🙂👍

[@Himolino]

i'd recommend the V for Varoufakis video they mentioned during the show. I'm a big fan of Böhmermanns satircal music videos.

[@Schirm08]

Böhmermann is a king of satire, but his show is also known for investigative journalism. There are just so many good shows from him.

[@blockundbleistift]

Have you seen Böhmermann and the Vera fake? A masterpiece.

[@robby_roboter]

Pls react to #Verafake too! This show (Schwiegertochter gesucht) needed to be exposed so badly and Böhmermann did it perfectly ❤

[@ChrischenL]

Your comparison with the Anstalt propaganda sketch was very fitting. It is way more likely, that Jan removed the finger from the original than added it but as both version are at least possible, you don’t know what to believe and drop the topic.

[@SamWinchester000]

Now that he's going into the "Deep Fake" style pranks, he has to watch Gosling Gate, as well. It was done by a comical TV Show "Circus Halligalli" of the two guys Joko and Klaas who very much liked to piblicly rival, battle with Böhmermann for more fame and credibility in a funny way, as they both, the duo of Joko and Klaas as well as Böhmermann, had their breakthrough on the same channel, ZDF Neo. Böhmermann had been their successor on very little ZDF Neo, when Joko and Klaas got a show on a larger channel, and he often joked about them, which they then answered. So to compete with him and all of his regularly award-winning pranks, they - and now there's the funny part you got to watch - pranked a famous German award show live on TV with a fake Ryan Gosling instructed by them to receive an award for the movie Lala Land. Known as Gosling Gate in Germany and including a really entertaining heist-like bts story shown on their Show and found on YT.

[@DerKiesch]

With that they more or less sunk that show afair because seeing the mechanics at play for everyone was very embarassing for the makers of the "Goldene Kamera".

[@SamWinchester000]

You mean the award show, yeah, the Goldene Kamera had been handed out for at least 50 years I think and always famed itself with all of the international stars they got. They are like a huge (at the same time rather emberassing) part of German pop culture and history. A few years after Gosling Gate, the awards were cancelled (and later reborn as a digital award shown on the Internet, I think).

[@RickyRatte]

Just FYI, there is a new lawsuit against Böhmermann going on right now because of last weeks episode

[@Kody_Lumine]

There is? What did he do this time?

[@RickyRatte]

@@Kody_Lumine they sneaked somebody into a seminar by a psyvhologist who strongly believes in satanic cults and used the information they learned there. But since they sneaked that person there with a false name and false profession, that's illegal

[@Scheater1337]

Na, the lawsuit if because of the BSI stuff a year ago. Last week's video is just some anonymous complaints that the Staatsschutz (I think) now has to check. There isn't any lawsuit (yet), and I'd guess that Böhmermann and his crew already checked the legalities before they did that undercover thing anyways. I seriously doubt that they'd risk to have someone in the team go to prison for some story.

[@Banis1234]

Yeeess, keep the German Staire reactions coming! Love it!

[@Pattosch]

What makes the whole thing really brilliant is the fact that the fake is a fake and Varoufakis really gave the finger.

[@jjtheone1232]

The song for this episode is AMAZING

[@Banis1234]

This was the best one, imo!

[@spittylama]

I love that you’re reacting to this episode! Where I had to laugh though, is that around 6:50 you comment on the opinion of the so called video expert. Böhmermanns TV show often calls out the bullshit internet experts and their so called expert opinion 😄

[@robotweizenkeim1556]

I even remember that the confusion became so big, that it seemed even unsure if not the "stinkefinger" clip was real and the other the fake 😅.

[@vortimerofkent128]

No wonder the BILD guy got confused. The entire company is permanently confused. They are the german equivalent to the Daily Mail.

[@GermanGreetings]

You made me laughing about Böhmermann`s jokes for the first time :)

[@simrock_]

One thing to remember, Bild is the german version of the Daily Mail or the Sun... they will print everything as long as it sells

[@lycidascrowe9278]

the newer satire in germany: böhmermann and "Die Anstalt" are def. the best. 👍 only better of the past are georg schramm & volker pispers, harald schmidt, helge schneider.

[@pyonier8775]

Bro, once you opened the Böhmermann-Door, there is no way back

[@tvubermensch808]

Greetings from Germany...🇩🇪💪💪😎

[@DukeDukeGo]

That video is what made Böhmermann more widely known on national scale. the seconbig thing for him was the erdogan poem and now he has a spot on main ZDF, not just an offchute channel

[@qualitaet01]

Thanks mate!

[@ATM1212]

One of my favourites of Böhmermann is Eier aus Stahl about Georg Friedrich Prinz von Preußen.

[@lukeknoxxmusic]

I just found out about your other (way bigger) channel here on KZbin!?!? 😱 Any particular reason why you don't interlink the channels on KZbin? There an extra sidebar just for that :)

[@Gnarlf]

😂 this is hillarious. I did not know, the video was a fake. In my opinion, the gesture was just to underline the point and all the outrage was vastly blown out of proportion. That kind of mindless drama, is nothing I'm interested in. So I didn't follow the story to its conclusion. Now that I've seen this, it's even better. It clearly shows how much integrity and journalistic ethics are still present in our media landscape. When I was a kid, I learned "trust, but varify". Somehow that warped to "If it sounds to good to be true, it must be true"

[@DerKiesch]

With #verafake you are in for a wild ride. Oh boy was that one genius.

[@slickvisualpoetry]

There are so many layers to this one.

[@janric06]

You make me doubt now. I always liked Guenter Jauch for his intelligent witty humor. My cousin works for him in his house on Sylt (yeah this rich and famous place in Germany). But she always praises Jauch as being a lovely and kind person.

[@ThomasVWorm]

Maybe Jauch had been fooled in his own show. But I don't believe it. The complete show was setup like a tribunal against Varoufakis and the video was really a mean fake.

[@TheAgamemnon911]

That's the media process in a nutshell: One outlet will poop into every pair of pants presented to them, and the boulevard will then report on what's inside.

[@AFNacapella]

Böhmi is like a perfect mix of John Oliver and Jimmy Fallon

[@FutureChaosTV]

I'd say John Oliver and *Jimmy Kimmel!*

[@Lukas-wk5wq]

My favourite German comedian is Georg schramm. I highly recommend even though he retired years ago. He had some great pieces on global politics during his time at „Neues aus der Anstalt“ ( news from the asylum). Maybe some else can point you to specific piece, since his most popular solos are about inner German politics so the things on brexit an us foreign „policies „ are harder to find, but if you do….. It’s like Volker pispers for darksiders.

[@CoL_Drake]

This is not even 40% of the series the best thing is still missing xDDD

[@Baccatube79]

You could go down the rabbit hole of German satire history and watch Gerhard Polt's classic Mai Ling routine. And take a deep breath beforehands.

[@ben4194]

You are ready for Blamielen odel Kassielen

[@thomasreuter1968]

I almost forgot. This is an excellent one too!

[@SebivonFircks]

Günther Jauch was one of the most popular and credible German TV hosts at the time.

[@disobedientdolphin]

You can see Günther Jauch at 9:43. He is a very respected and reputable journalist and game show host. He moderates the german version of "Who Wants to Be a millionaire?" and is mainly known for that. As a respected and reputable man he usually doesn't jump to conclusions like that which makes him the perfect target for Jan Böhmermann. I think he also is very wealthy.

[@lanieschatz]

I've always loved his Song/Rap numbers! I would recommend "Laugengebäck" and the whole rap song series.

[@Koeter]

I recommend Böhmermanns whole video about Rainer Wendt, the chairman of a German police union. Hope it exists with English subtitles! 😂

[@lisbethhansen640]

The end result for Varoufakis was, that the pressure on him was so big, that he had to resign.

[@punxsu]

Böhmermann's Song "BE DEUTSCH! [Achtung! Germans on the rise!]" is an absolute must-watch at least for yourself if you can't react to it cuz of legal issues with songs.

[@arthur_p_dent]

Legal issues? What legal issues would that be??

[@punxsu]

@@arthur_p_dent copyright protection

[@arthur_p_dent]

@@punxsu are there places in the world where the ZDF blocks their contents? Never heard that before (unless it's sports contents where they obviously only have rights for Germany). But it would not be completely impossible I guess.

[@punxsu]

@@arthur_p_dent honestly I don't know if it's a problem or not.

[@DimitriosBouroutzis]

I remember that Varoufakis himself share the video with the comment "good work" or something like that

[@golo00011]

Am a german and am 58,you an scotish and i like your slang and i wanna know how old are you.And i like your reactions about german satire.

[@svay3074]

The video with the finger is actually real, they faked the one without and played into the ongoing discussion, really smart.

[@godblesstheinternet]

verafake will be one of the best videos you have ever watched!

[@Kokuswolf]

It's my humble opinion, but I never took Günther Jauch or Markus Lanz serious. Especially not ARD. Somehow we have some media outlets there that are very loyal to the state's narrative and outsiders like Böhmermann elsewhere. I think that the older generations, mostly over 60, trust the public media because it was more reputable back then. Not to say, everything is bullshit, but these top tier 20 o'clock talk shows are known to be one sided and mostly done with "key point questioning" moderators without really questioning the answers. Somehow I'm glad we have "contra" from Böhmermann and Anstalt, but I think even Satire got a bit undermined through mainstream shows like Heute Show. But on the other hand, I think Satire must critize even those, who think their oppinion is flawless and not influenced or exploited by other interests. If it makes you (or me) think longer than two seconds about a topic or message, satire is successful (enough). (I hope that this puts my criticism in the last paragraph into perspective somewhat.)

[@NormanTheDormantDoormat]

Well the finger was confirmed real. And the ARD and ZDF are probably more trustworthy than almost all private media.

[@berndrohlfs7397]

After this, people in Germany believed the middle finger was a fake. Even Günther Jauch was confused. In fact, it had been no fake. Later, Varoufakis said he liked it. The crisis in Greece was a complicated thing. The German government gave money but demanded a hard Greek program to cut down costs. There was a lot of suffering in Greece.

[@robertheinrich2994]

and now he is investigated for investigating satanism in germany ;-) this is a good one, and aired just last week.

[@RololoTheOneAndOnly]

more like get sued by a woman, who build a fakenews-empire about satanism, who is scared she will lose all the money now.

[@jonathanrabbit9560]

I can remember, how confused everybody in germany was, after this neo-magazine-royale show. It lastet for a couple of days. Nobody knew - what is right, what is fake? Actually the "middle finger" was not a fake at all. It really happend in 2013. That Böhmermann switched the whole thing was hilarious. And for a short time everybody really thought, that Jauch and the mainstream media fell for a neo-magazine joke. It was embarassing...

[@l.a.3680]

I miss old Böhmermann. He was great.

[@enigmas_karnivore28]

He is not gone. Every week you see a New Folge

[@l.a.3680]

@@enigmas_karnivore28 Ähm - nein. Heut zu Tage fällt Böhmermann leider immer wieder auch durch framing und mangelnde Recherche auf. Das war früher anders. Edit: Die Art der Präsentation ist gleich geblieben, aber der Inhalt leider nicht. Und ich kann mich nicht an Satire erfreuen wenn ich gleichzeitig befürchten muss belogen zu werden.

[@thedoctorscompanionintheta7372]

Oh, and you really should watch that Varoufakis song (V for Varoufakis) - it's brilliant

[@lukeknoxxmusic]

Someday you need to make a collab with Ryan Wass. You both are the most pleasant Germany Reaction KZbinrs I know. Very friedly, calm (Ryan a little less 😄) and funny.

[@rudolfgernd8760]

Varoufakis was a big deal. He was the minister of finance for the left party of Greece after the outbreak of the world finance crysis. This man predicted the catastrophy austerity policy would have on europe and showed the world what else we could do. Importnat note: Germany was the leading power behind the austerity "solution" which was a desaster. German media and politics went hard against Varoufakis. They did everything to ruin his reputation (he is a recognized economic expert) and destroyed every proposed solution of him. They feared that the Left Party and its left-wing ideas could be successful. It was a media murder of him and his party. I can't believe you didn't notice.

[@ThomasVWorm]

The austerity policy wasn't only a desaster but I see it as a crime, since it literally killed people. The Lancet, the famous medical journal, published a paper, which described, how infant mortality went up because of this policy. And this is only one example. Which is not a surprise, when you reduce medical services as if they are not needed and kick people out of health insurance.

[@titnicmclaible8183]

Hello there. What is this with the letters in the video again? Is ZDF censoring that? I'm confused. Greetings.

[@chgr4674]

Günther Jauch is one of the biggest TV hosts in Germany. He is the host for the German version of Who wants to be a millionaire and many other shows

[@dan438]

Varufake and Verafake both were the mainly received as fun pieces and also for producers to be more careful about the things they show. Because Böhmermann could be behind everything.

[@Vemperor666]

One important thing for context: Günther Jauch is seen as an old-honourable beacon of conservative journalism in Germany, many people couldn't imagine that he would ever say something untrue. I think he truly hates Böhmermann for this attack until today...

[@susanfuchs6942]

Verafake war ganz, ganz großes Kino! Aber auch sehr traurig das das Trash TV so eklig ist…

[@zoolkhan]

.....the more i listen to varufakis the more i respect the man. He is not stupid, and i find it very hard to dismiss what he is saying. my german heritage does not prevent me from admitting that.

[@jjjones3401]

I was 17 when this clip went viral in germany. It was so seriously discussed in german media and everyone believed it. I even saw the TV show where they asked Varoufakis about it. When Böhmermann said that he faked it I first didn't believe it. I thought he was just shit-talking and the video is still real 😅😂

[@PfalzMapper]

One of best Prank in German tv live show was Joko and Klaas die goldene Kamera, they live pranked biggest German actor award show and profed how fake award shows are. They used to have a fake Ryan Gosling Gate…

[@BenjaminRein-v2w]

Hey Mert, your reactions are so lovely and I like your sence of humor! As you seem to be a fan of the german sarcasm you will also like another piece of art from Jan Böhmermann. It's a bit different but will give you goosebumps. Kind of a Rammstein-version of a ironic but deep song to cheer you up...as a nation...staying strong againgst small minded nazis, rasists and everythings whats wrong in germany so far: Be Deutsch by Jan Böhmermann!!! You'll love it :)

[@kilianhzh]

Verafake is pure comedy gold

[@dl6urk88]

Mert, have you realized that the version WITHOUT the middle finger raised is the fake version?

[@Jan_Seidel]

The german media went totally nuts, because there already due to debts was some beef going on between Germany and Greece. People felt like the feeding hand was bitten, because Germany was paying one/the big share to keep Greece running as they defaulted. But they also enforced regulations Greece had to follow in order to receive support.

[@ThomasVWorm]

Germany did not pay anything. They just gave some guarantees, not more. And Greece did not default. Greece was threatened by the Troika to let it default in order to apply the austerity policies. Technically a country cannot default in its own currency and the Euro is also Greece own currency. So a default would just have been a political decision of the leaders of the Eurozone. If they would have let Greece default, the Euro would have ceased to exist. Because this would have given a clear message to the financial sector: government bonds of Eurozone members are not save. So banks in the eurozone are no partners which are worth to cooperate with. This would have caused a complete economic meltdown of the economy in Europe. What had been told in Germany about the Euro crisis and Greece were mainly lies and damn lies. The Jauch show was one of the worst.

[@furumarara87]

This one was really fucking genius by Böhmermann ^^

[@ferdirunge4510]

truth: he sticked the finger but it was totaly offcontent presentated...

[@SamWinchester000]

Günther Jauch is an extremely popular show host (even though his humour is actually rather simple and childish, but it makes him likeable to many people), who is nowadays mainly known for hosting "Who wants to be a Millionaire" in Germany. Actually, the usual take is that Millionaire has only been running for so long because (in contrast to boring Chris Terant) people mainly watch the show to see him. On the hight of his popularity a majority of polled Germans wished him to be Chancellor (although I guess the factor that many simple-minded people thought him to be very intelligent just because he "knows" the answers to all the questions on TV, plays a large role with that) and he's often been nick-named the "perfect stepson". He started out as a journalist and also sports journalist for public television and the magazine "Stern" (maybe you know it). He later hosted the sports and football show on public channel ZDF in the 90s while also hosting the revolutionary new independent "Stern TV" investigative magazine at the same time. Later he changed to private TV RTL when they acquired the Champions League rights for the first time ever, with him hosting it, as well as winter sports. In 1999, Millionaire premiered with him hosting an entertainment show for the first time. In spite of huge public critique, it became a massive success, and when RTL had lost pretty much all of their sports rights, he concentrated on Millionaire and Stern TV (still retaining a journalistic format). As Jauch had been massively popular, the public channel ARD had tright to convince him to host a political show for them for years. I think, in 2011 he finally agreed, stepped down from Stern TV and got his own "Günther Jauch" show on ARD, while still continuing with Millionaire. He was so important to the them that they even turned around their whole week programme and demoted "Anne Will's show" to another slot just to make place for Jauch. And actually, his show was quite respected for being very neutral and much more calm and balanced than other political shows, but in this take they honestly produced garbage. He declined a new contract to continue the show after the original 4 years (aka, he didn't want to do that anymore and maybe felt like, I'm too old for that shit), stepped down in 2015, and ARD just changed the slot back to Anne Will - after they had pretty disrespectfully demoted her before - almost as if nothing had ever happened, randering Jauch's run as a political journalist as a bit odd looking back to it from the future. Since then, he has only been hosting Millionaire on private TV (until this day, just saw him on air last Monday) and doing the occasional stupid game show with his personal friend (and German Entertainment show giant) Thomas Gottschalk. So, in short the fact that ARD changed their whole setup just to get Jauch on their channel, while they usually never do that and traditionally wait until one of their sitting hosts retires in old age before they search for a new one, shows how immense Jauch's popularity had been in the 2000s and early 2010s.