The director of a leading German ballet company is being investigated by police and has been sacked for throwing dog feces in a critic’s face after taking offense at a post she wrote.
According to journalist Wiebke Hüster, Marco Goecke, head of the Hanover State Opera ballet company, verbally attacked her during the intermission of a ballet debut performance. The confrontation seems to have been spurred on by an earlier review that Hüster had written.
“Goecke rubbed the dog feces hard and brutally in my face,” Hüster told CNN on Wednesday (15). “It was in an open plastic bag that is usually tied in a knot,” added the journalist.
“I was completely sincere when he approached me because he spoke calmly, otherwise I would have walked away, but his bright red face showed his agitation,” said Hüster. “Onlookers were frozen in shock as I screamed and cried.”
Goecke apologized to Hüster and everyone affected for his “absolutely unacceptable action” in a statement sent to the CNN on Tuesday.
“In hindsight, I clearly see that this was a shameful act in the heat of the moment and an overreaction” after a “nervous strain of two premieres in a short time” in The Hague on February 9 and in Hanover on Saturday, he added.
Goecke told public broadcaster NDR on Tuesday that Huster had been “throwing shit” at him “for years”.
He said his dog left feces in his dog bag, which he used to attack Hüster. “Of course I have to justify myself and of course it’s not right that this happened in this opera house, in this public space, and of course it’s also a fact that made spectators scared and I’m sorry for that,” said Goecke to NDR.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper wrote in an article on Sunday: “We assess the humiliating act as, in addition to an offense of bodily injury, also an attempt to intimidate our critical and free view of art.” The FAZ also reports that the police are investigating the incident after Hüster filed a criminal complaint.
A Hannover police spokeswoman confirmed to CNN who are investigating insults and bodily harm against Hüster. No accusations were made.
The Hannover State Opera immediately apologized “personally as well as publicly” to Hüster, writing in a press release that the journalist had been “flagrantly violated in her personal integrity”.
The Hannover State Opera said in a press release on Thursday that it ended its collaboration with Goecke by “mutual agreement”.
“Reliable cooperation with Marco Goecke in a leading position is inconceivable for the Hanover State Opera after the attack on journalist Wiebke Hüster. Marco Goecke’s irresponsible actions deeply disturbed the public, angered the public, violated all of the house’s principles and massively damaged the reputation of the Hanover State Opera,” the opera house said.
The head of the regional journalists’ association, Frank Rieger, condemned the action as “an attack on freedom of the press”.
“An artist must endure criticism, even if it seems excessive,” Rieger said in a tweet. “Anyone who reacts to criticism with violence is not acceptable.”
Goecke criticized what he called “destructive and offensive reporting”, saying it was damaging “the whole cultural enterprise”.
Meanwhile, the Nederlands Dans Theater said on their website that they would “continue working with Marco”, as he had apologized.
“I will never again attend any performance by Marco Goecke, he now exists in a different universe than mine”, said Hüster.
Source: CNN Brasil
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