Sunday, January 09, 2022

“It’s a scam”
Lippe thinks nothing of gender

Jürgen von der Lippe is now joining the debate about politically correct language. The entertainer is not a friend of gender. The 73-year-old is particularly upset about “meaningless participants”.

Jürgen von der Lippe considers gender-sensitive language to be an artificial tendency. “It’s a scam that universities demand that students do gender assignments and submit them in the wrong German,” said the 73-year-old entertainer of “Bild am Sonntag”.

“It gives the impression that there is a widespread movement. But the opposite is the case. Based on the survey, up to 91 percent of Germans do not want to change.” Accordingly, he is most excited about “meaningless participants”. Von der Lippe: “The baker is the baker when he’s in the bakery. If he’s on the toilet, no more.”

For years there has been debate in Germany about whether and how the male forms in the language are replaced by broader words – for example, to include women, but also intersex people. Gender asterisks, as used by teachers, are a possibility. Some people even put a colon or underscore in place.

Von der Lippe thinks that these efforts are no longer fair: “If I myself were gay, lesbian, bi-, trans- or intersex, I would feel bad that I should only be represented by such a small symbol.” He also wonders what it is about all the other people who are disadvantaged. Should something be offered to them as well? “Maybe an emoji? It’s all wrong back and front. Why don’t we just stick to the typical masculine, everyone can feel at home there.”

Jürgen von der Lippe had his greatest television time in the 80s and 90s with shows such as “Donnerlipchen” and “Geld oder Liebe”.