How the hit star crashed and why the RTL2 documentary was canceled

Michael Wendler’s planned TV comeback is history again. After RTL2 announced that they wanted to accompany the former Schlager star and his wife Laura Müller on a reality show, many were shocked. Almost 24 hours later, the broadcaster rowed back. The show won’t air.

With all the excitement, many are wondering: Why does RTL2 have to pull the ripcord at Wendler? Why is he too polarizing for reality TV, as RTL2 initially communicated on Instagram?

We explain why the horror of the Wendler documentary soap is so great, what actions and statements the singer and his wife developed into intolerable people and why the comeback attempt failed after all.

Wendler documentary soap scandal on RTL2: What actually happened?

The drama about the Wendler comeback took place in four acts:

1. RTL 2 announced on Tuesday that it would be shooting a docu-soap about Michael Wendler and Laura Müller. Cameras should accompany the two through Laura’s pregnancy until the birth of their first child together. The title and release date were not yet known

2. Immediately afterwards, there was tremendous resistance to the project, especially on social media. As “disgusting and unscrupulous” For example, Spiegel columnist and TV expert Anja Rützel described the broadcaster’s approach

3. The RTL Group announced on Tuesday evening that it did not want to use the docu-soap on the RTL + streaming platform after its release. RTL 2 productions usually also run there. RTL2 employees are also said to have spoken out against the documentary internally. The millionaire couple Robert and Carmen Geiss threatened to continue the hit show The Geissens – a terribly glamorous family on another station.

4. RTL2 stamped all plans for the Wendler documentary soap less than 24 hours after publication. “We noticed the vehemence of the reactions and take the voices of our audience seriously.”it said in a statement.

Holocaust trivialization and conspiracies: Michael Wendler is accused of this

Michael Wendler became known as a pop singer, tried his hand at being a reality star and even made it onto the jury for Deutschland sucht den Superstar. In the past two years he slipped into right-wing extremist conspiracy milieu away. Among other things, he attracted attention with statements about the corona pandemic and in this context with relativizing comparisons to the Holocaust.

First movements in the conspiracy scene: what led to Michael Wendler’s DSDS exit

In October 2020, Wendler posted a video on Instagram in which he described RTL and other German media as “aligned and politically controlled”
designated, as reported by DWDL.

I accuse the federal government of gross and serious violations of the constitution and the Basic Law with regard to the alleged corona pandemic and the resulting measures […]. Almost all television stations, including RTL, are complicit [..]

Almost at the same time as Wendler’s Instagram video, the Kaufland supermarket chain published a viral advertising clip in which the pop singer sang his hit No matter to shelf recast. Kaufland quickly took action and removed the video from all platforms, as reported by Stern. Wendler voluntarily left the DSDS as a juror. Shortly thereafter, the broadcaster canceled the broadcast of the planned wedding between Laura Müller and Wendler.

RTL distanced itself from Wendler and “his conspiracy theories”. At this point, the broadcaster still assumed that the DSDS episodes would be broadcast as planned with him as a jury member. The situation initially seemed to calm down. Wendler apologized and claimed not to be a corona denier.

Arrived in the deepest right-wing conspiracy swamp: what happened after Wendler’s DSDS exit

Just a few hours before the DSDS season with Wendler was supposed to start in January 2021, the pop singer published a much-discussed Holocaust comparison in Messenger Telegram, which is known as a platform for conspiracy stories. “CONCENTRATION CAMP GERMANY??? IT IS SIMPLY ONLY THINGS THIS GOVERNMENT ALLOWS.”

RTL then finally separated from Wendler. The broadcaster cut the former juror from all scenes of the already completed DSDS season or made him unrecognizable in the remaining material. All other programs with Wendler’s participation were removed from the streaming platform RTL +.

Wendler later rowed back from his concentration camp statement and claimed that he had not alluded to the Nazi death camps with the abbreviation – only to draw the comparison again a few months later in an interview with the right-wing Compact magazine.

Then Wendler’s increasingly confused posts and statements, which he mainly distributed via Telegram. He worked almost systematically on various stories that are popular in the conspiracy scene. A selection:

In July 2021 he called the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley, in which more than 180 people died,“a weather weapon” the “Climate Change Agenda”.

In November 2021 he warned his followers at Telegram about so-called chemtrails, wrote Ruhr24.

When the vaccines against the corona virus were distributed to the German population in December 2021, he distributed a fake text board, which – again with Holocaust vocabulary – read from a “final solution” spoke for the unvaccinated.

No apology in sight: Michael Wendler has not clearly distanced himself from his statements to this day

In April 2022, it became apparent that Michael Wendler not only shares incorrect information based on the situation, but that conspiracies are firmly anchored in his world view. When the singer Xavier Naidoo, who had also slipped into the conspiracy scene, distanced himself from his attitudes, Wendler reacted with horror:

Xavier shocks the freedom movement with statements in his video! Many are now wondering what the hell his statements mean. The truth is non-negotiable.”That’s barely a year ago. His notorious Michael Wendler has now deactivated the Telegram account. Appropriate in time shortly before the announcement of the docu-soap. RTL2 also quoted the former Schlager star in a press release: “I would like to clearly distance myself from some of my statements in the past.”

He did not reveal which statements he distances himself from and which the singer continues to adhere to. That’s all, but not “clear”.

Shitstorm or RTL conflict: what led to the cancellation of the Wendler documentary?

So Michael Wendler has done a lot in recent years to no longer fit into a mainstream entertainment format. Nevertheless, RTL2 decided to shoot a format with him and Laura Müller and confidently announce it. Even if the whole thing was turned off after 24 hours of public shitstorm.

As outsiders, we cannot say what specifically brought RTL2 to this decision. But there is 3 factorswhich definitely played a role:

The last point in particular should have caused heated discussions at the Munich broadcaster. RTL2 may not be afraid of controversial people, but they probably don’t want to spoil things with their big brother RTL. One way or another, the loss of image is done. Canceling the documentary completely was one thing above all: damage limitation.

It remains to be seen how Michael Wendler and Laura Müller will react to the fact that their rehabilitation on German television has been put on hold for the time being. If in doubt, we will find out at Telegram.

You can find out more about conspiracy stories and their effects at the Federal Agency for Civic Education. This ZDF contribution sheds light on how such stories spread during the corona pandemic.