With her show, the mouse not only accompanies her through her childhood, she also enchants countless fans among adults. Now her statue has been “kidnapped” in Cologne. At WDR you don’t find it funny; there is a political action behind it.
It is a criminal case of a special class: “If it all has to be a joke, we hope for a good punch line,” WDR program director Jörg Schönborn said angrily on Tuesday. “But seriously: the mouse belongs to our audience and it is not okay to kidnap it – whatever you want to do with it.”
“Don’t Worry”
The WDR broadcaster therefore called on the unknown ‘kidnappers’ to immediately return the image. Instead of the popular statue, there was only a sign: “I have something important to do… don’t worry… I’ll be back safely in a few days,” it said.
And a deliberately constructed path was also left in front of the Vierscheibehaus in Cologne. The sign points to an Instagram channel. There you will see a video in which the mouse statue is in a vineyard. The mouse was said to be worried about her friends on public television. Because these are threatened, according to the unknown senders.
However, this is not well received by the broadcaster: the mouse may not be used for political campaigns, the public broadcaster warned.
Figure reappeared 90 miles away
On Wednesday it was clear: campaign organization Campact was responsible for removing the mini-monument from ‘The Show with the Mouse’. It presented the well-known WDR child star a day after his disappearance about 150 kilometers away from his original location in the center of Cologne – in Mainz.
“As part of its excursion, the mouse will stop in several German cities to take a stand against the drastic cuts in the information and educational offering of the public broadcaster (ÖRR),” the organization’s director, Astrid Deilmann, explained to the secret service. -Action. Mainz is the first stop. According to Campact, the plan calls for Germany’s most famous rodent to return to its home at the WDR by the end of this week.
What’s behind it?
The background to the campaign is the debates about the future structure of public broadcasting. At the end of October, the prime ministers want to discuss broadcasting reform and also discuss financing issues at a conference in Leipzig. The states disagree, among other things, about whether the broadcasting fee should increase as of January 1, 2025. There are signs that smaller broadcasters could pool their resources into fewer offerings.
It is not the first time that the image has disappeared
The statue was erected in March 2021 as part of the 50th anniversary of “Sendung mit der Maus”. By the end of June 2023, the figure had already disappeared once. However, at the time the figure was removed for repairs due to numerous scratches on the orange paint.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
