''extra 3'' is a weekly

political satire Political satire is a type of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics. Political satire can also act as a tool for advancing political arguments in conditions where political speech and dissent are banned. Political satir ...

show on

German television Television in Germany began in Berlin on 22 March 1935, broadcasting for 90 minutes three times a week. It was home to the first regular television service in the world, named ''Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow''. In 2000, the German television marke ...

established in 1976. Produced by public TV broadcaster

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (; "North German Broadcasting"), commonly shortened to NDR (), is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, ...

, it is aired on NDR Fernsehen and

3sat 3sat (, ''Dreisat'') is a free-to-air German-language public service television channel. It is a generalist channel with a cultural focus and is jointly operated by public broadcasters from Germany ( ZDF, ARD), Austria ( ORF) and Switzerlan ...

. Once a month, the show is promoted to ARD's national first program

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the ARD (broadcaster)#Institutions and member org ...

. Invented by Dieter Kronzucker in 1976, the satire show was initially hosted by himself together with Peter Merseburger and Wolf von Lojewski. Over the years, the show has seen a number of personalities co-hosting the magazine, starting with

Lea Rosh Rosh in 1990 Lea Rosh (; born Edith Renate Ursula Rosh; 1 October 1936) is a German television journalist, publicist, entrepreneur and political activist. Rosh was the first female journalist to manage a public broadcasting service in Germany an ...

, who joined the team in 1977.

History

In 2000, a special edition was co-hosted by leading politicians

Cem Özdemir Cem Özdemir (; ; born 21 December 1965) is a German politician who served as Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Germany), Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture in the Scholz cabinet, cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz from 2021 to 202 ...

(Bündnis 90/Die Grünen),

Thomas Goppel Thomas Goppel (born 30 April 1947 in Aschaffenburg, Lower Franconia, Bavaria) is a German politician and party member of the CSU party. Goppel was member of the Landtag of Bavaria from 1974 to 2018. He is the son of the former Bavarian Minister P ...

(CSU), Guido Westerwelle (FDP) and

Gregor Gysi Gregor Florian Gysi (; born 16 January 1948) is a German attorney, former president of the Party of the European Left and a prominent politician of The Left () political party. He belonged to the reformist wing of the governing Socialist Unity ...

(Die Linke). Since 2014 ''extra 3'' offers a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel with videos of full episodes and clips of regular sub-series such as ''Realer Irrsinn'' (real madness).

Erdoğan controversy

In its nationally aired show on 17 March 2016, ''extra 3'' presented a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

music video titled " Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan", adapted from German pop star

Nena Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...

's song ''

Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann" (German for "anyhow, anywhere, anytime”) is a 1984 song by Nena written by band members Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen and Carlo Karges. It was a commercial success in Europe. Released initially as a single, ...

''. The two-minute video shows a compilation of some of the most absurd public moments of Turkish president

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

and footage of the Turkish government's crackdown on the

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

, women rights protesters and

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

, while taking a lenient stance on the "brothers in faith from

ISIL The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signif ...

". The video also criticizes chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

for her migrant deal with Turkey to putting Turkey in the role of cracking down on the refugee influx to the EU, mocking her to "be charming to him since he has you well in hand" (). On 22 March, Erdoğan summoned German ambassador Martin Erdmann over the song, asking the German government to intervene and delete the video, as reported by AFP. While representatives of the German government declined to intervene, ''extra 3'' followed up with English- and Turkish-subtitled versions of the video and republished a number of earlier videos criticizing the Turkish government. Erdoğan's reaction to a satirical video produced an outcry from the German public with representatives of all German parties criticizing the situation of

censorship in Turkey Censorship in Turkey is regulated by domestic and international legislation, the latter (in theory) taking precedence over domestic law, according to Article 90 of the Constitution of Turkey (so amended in 2004). Despite legal provisions, free ...

and reaffirming that Germany takes its

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic Media (communication), media, especially publication, published materials, shoul ...

seriously.

Sevim Dağdelen Sevim Dağdelen (born 4 September 1975) is a German politician and a member of the Bundestag. She was elected for Left Party () and switched in October 2023 to Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht. Early years Born in Duisburg to Kurdish Alevi immigra ...

, in charge for foreign policy at the left-wing party

Die Linke Die Linke (; ), also known as the Left Party ( ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and Labour and Social Justice – The ...

, demanded "a clear stand" from the foreign office, adding that "our fundamental rights cannot be sacrificed on the altar of the shabby EU-Turkey deal.” As reported by a

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

spokeswoman, Commission President

Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...

said he "does not appreciate" Turkey's decision to call in the ambassador because of a satirical song, and "believes this moves Turkey further from the EU rather than closer to us."

Calling Alice Weidel a "Nazischlampe"

The satire show extra 3 called the 2017 lead candidate of the German party AfD,

Alice Weidel Alice Elisabeth Weidel (; born 6 February 1979) is a German far-right politician who has been serving as of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party alongside Tino Chrupalla since June 2022. Since October 2017, she has held ...

, a Nazi bitch, as a response to her rallying against

political correctness "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...

. She was not amused and went to court. The Landgericht (Regional Court) in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

rejected the suit, explaining it with freedom of expression and satire with respect to political figures. Alice Weidel has brought it to the

Oberlandesgericht An (; plural – ; OLG, , or in Berlin '' Kammergericht'': KG) is a higher court in Germany. There are 24 in Germany and they deal with civil and criminal matters. They are positioned above regional courts () and below the Federal Cour ...

(Higher Regional Court), but has withdrawn the appeal.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Norddeutscher Rundfunk German political satire German satirical television shows Das Erste original programming 1976 German television series debuts 1970s German television series 1980s German television series 1990s German television series 2000s German television series 2010s German television series German-language television shows 2016 controversies Germany–Turkey relations