Berlin’s city-state minister for culture Joe Chialo has said it was “humiliating” to be described by chancellor Olaf Scholz as a “court jester” and political “fig leaf”.
Just over a week before federal elections, Scholz has come under fire for the remarks but described as “far-fetched” and “absurd” claims that they had a racist motivation.
In a statement Mr Chialo, the only black politician in Berlin’s city-state government, confirmed the chancellor made the remarks at a private event last month, and said they “affected me deeply”.
Mr Chialo worked previously as a music industry manager before he stood for election for the city’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and became minister for culture in the city-state government.
Mr Chialo bumped into Mr Scholz at a party hours after a CDU motion on migration passed the Bundestag with support from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
According to reports, Mr Chialo contradicted Mr Scholz when he suggested the CDU was now pursuing racist policies. At that, Mr Scholz snapped that Mr Chialo was “nothing more than a fig leaf” for the CDU.
“Every party has its court jesters,” the chancellor added.
Listening in was Georg Meck, editor of Focus magazine. He reported “astounded gazes” from others who heard the remarks.
“When Chialo contradicted him, giving Scholz a chance to correct himself, he repeated the term ‘court jester’,” wrote Mr Meck. “Such a dressing down for a man who, along with his family, has been threatened by racists.”
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In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Mr Scholz said he had used the term “court jester” with others. It had no racial connotations, he added, and was not linked to Mr Chialo’s skin colour. Far from a put-down, Mr Scholz said he valued Mr Chialo as an “important liberal voice” in the CDU.
“The link being made here is far-fetched,” said Mr Scholz to the magazine. On Wednesday he telephoned Mr Chialo to express his regret for his remark and explain his thinking.
In a statement Mr Chialo expressed concern at the tone but said he had “taken note” of the chancellor’s explanation.
“As far as I’m concerned,” added Mr Chialo, “the matter is closed.”
Businessman Harald Christ, whose birthday party is now making headlines, said he was friends with Mr Scholz for years and that it was “absurd to put him in the racist camp”.
It’s not the first time that Mr Scholz’s remarks have got him into trouble as chancellor. Tales of Scholz dressing-downs – of staff, rivals and journalists – are legendary, though only a handful have been captured on camera.
At a 2022 press conference following the German G7 summit, German-Polish journalist Rosalia Romaniec asked the chancellor whether he could envision G7 members sending peacekeepers to Ukraine.
“I could,” said Mr Scholz. After a moment’s embarrassed silence, he added: “That’s that.”
