Jens Lehmann sacked for racist text

[Ludens the Red]

The former Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has been sacked from Hertha Berlin’s supervisory board after referring to German television pundit Dennis Aogo as “a token black guy” in a WhatsApp message.
Lehmann, 51, who played for the Gunners from 2003-2008 as well as for a brief spell in 2011, and represented Germany 61 times, apologised on social media to Aogo, a former Hamburg and Schalke player who now works for Sky Sports in Germany.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...erlin-for-token-black-guy-comment-dennis-aogo

Turns out he didn’t even mean to send it to Aogo which makes him look a lot worse.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-lehmann-sky-text-aogo-24041199

 

[matsdf]

Is that a South Park reference?

EDIT: Nevermind. The reference itself goes deeper than that.

 

[Tarrou]

Is that a South Park reference?

no

 

[Foxbatt]

Didn't he do a comedy act with Drogba?

 

[Cloud7]

In before the mention about cancel culture

 

[Acrobat7]

He is a covid denying homophob. Not really shocking to discover he also sends racist texts.
It was always obvious that he is a massive idiot so hiring him was a PR disaster waiting to happen.

 

[rimaldo]

In before the mention about cancel culture

cant even be a racist nowadays. its pc gone mad. my dad didn’t die fighting for brexit, to save are country, to have some german guy sacked for saying what were all finking.

 

[Okey]

Does the article say 'in a message to Aogo'? That's very weird. I wish the whole message was available somewhere. Cos unless it was a directly abusive message to Aogo, which would be criminal, then the context would be very relevant here.

 

[rimaldo]

He is a covid denying homophob. Not really shocking to discover he also sends racist texts.
It was always obvious that he is a massive idiot so hiring him was a PR disaster waiting to happen.

yes, i for one, am always shocked to discover massive bellends doing massive bellend things.

 

[Rektsanwalt]

Lehmann is an arrogant piece of shit who thought just because he has an IQ slightly above the average footballer, he would be above average in other fields as well. He will most likely never see that he's not as gifted as he thought, hence he's talking about all stuff in public he knows nothing about. Hope he's gone for good. Racist, stupid cnut.

Spoiler: Aogos Post

 

[Acrobat7]

Does the article say 'in a message to Aogo'? That's very weird. I wish the whole message was available somewhere. Cos unless it was a directly abusive message to Aogo, which would be criminal, then the context would be very relevant here.

It seems he wanted to send it to someone else but sent it to Aogo instead. Aogo made it public.

 

[Doracle]

His explanation in that Mirror article is ridiculous:

“I've already phoned Dennis and asked him for forgiveness if what I said came over as disrespectful. It was not meant that way at all, it was meant positively. Because he is very knowledgeable and strong in his appearances as a Sky expert. And so he has increased the ratings. That's what I wanted to say, but I expressed it badly.”

 

[Jericho]

Meh. Silly comment to make and not a good look for the club so understandably they removed him. Not that big of a deal really.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

It seems he wanted to send it to someone else but sent it to Aogo instead. Aogo made it public.

what a way to get caught out!

 

[Bubz27]

cant even be a racist nowadays. its pc gone mad. my dad didn’t die fighting for brexit, to save are country, to have some german guy sacked for saying what were all finking.

My favourite part of this is "are".

 

[WeePat]

His explanation in that Mirror article is ridiculous:

“I've already phoned Dennis and asked him for forgiveness if what I said came over as disrespectful. It was not meant that way at all, it was meant positively. Because he is very knowledgeable and strong in his appearances as a Sky expert. And so he has increased the ratings. That's what I wanted to say, but I expressed it badly.”

If he wanted to say that, he would have said just that.

Why do these people always think trying to convince the public that the bad thing they've been caught doing is actually a good thing is their best move.

 

[harms]

His explanation in that Mirror article is ridiculous:

“I've already phoned Dennis and asked him for forgiveness if what I said came over as disrespectful. It was not meant that way at all, it was meant positively. Because he is very knowledgeable and strong in his appearances as a Sky expert. And so he has increased the ratings. That's what I wanted to say, but I expressed it badly.”

I can’t even begin to imagine how this is supposed to make sense.

 

[Doracle]

Does the article say 'in a message to Aogo'? That's very weird. I wish the whole message was available somewhere. Cos unless it was a directly abusive message to Aogo, which would be criminal, then the context would be very relevant here.

The full message is in the Mirror article:

“Is Dennis basically your token black guy?"

That’s their translation. A German speaker might say it’s inaccurate but I’m presuming it’s reasonably correct. Obviously, the wording indicates he meant to send it to someone else.

 

[DWelbz19]

Does the article say 'in a message to Aogo'? That's very weird. I wish the whole message was available somewhere. Cos unless it was a directly abusive message to Aogo, which would be criminal, then the context would be very relevant here.

He mistakenly sent the message directly to Aogo instead of another party. His intention was to be racist behind Aogo's back, but his imbecility knows no bounds and he accidentally sent it directly to Aogo.

 

[Ludens the Red]

I can’t even begin to imagine how this is supposed to make sense.

Spoiler

 

[Pagh Wraith]

The full message is in the Mirror article:

“Is Dennis basically your token black guy?"

That’s their translation. A German speaker might say it’s inaccurate but I’m presuming it’s reasonably correct. Obviously, the wording indicates he meant to send it to someone else.

The German word for 'ratings' and 'quota' is the same. So his excuse is that his message was just a pun, i.e. Aogo being the 'ratings black guy'. Oh dear.

 

[ForEverEleven]

The German word for 'ratings' and 'quota' is the same. So his excuse is he that his message was just a pun, i.e. Aogo being the 'ratings black guy'. Oh dear.

That is the worst excuse I have ever heard, especially as a native german speaker it is absolutely ridiculous. Just hope nobody who doesn´t speak german falls for this.

 

[Pagh Wraith]

That is the worst excuse I have ever heard, especially as a native german speaker it is absolutely ridiculous. Just hope nobody who doesn´t speak german falls for this.

10/10 for coming up with a creative excuse but yeah, that really is amazing. Wonder who the intended recipient of the message was.

 

[OleBoiii]

Lehmann is an arrogant piece of shit who thought just because he has an IQ slightly above the average footballer, he would be above average in other fields as well. He will most likely never see that he's not as gifted as he thought, hence he's talking about all stuff in public he knows nothing about. Hope he's gone for good. Racist, stupid cnut.

Spoiler: Aogos Post

When I woke up today I did not expect to learn the German word for 'token black guy' before the end of the day, but here we are...

"Qotenschwarzer" sounds pretty insane.

 

[Rektsanwalt]

10/10 for coming up with a creative excuse but yeah, that really is amazing. Wonder who the intended recipient of the message was.

must be someone from Sky, right? Since Aogo worked as a pundit iirc and Lehmann wrote "euer", as in "your" black guy to meet a quota.

 

[Pagh Wraith]

When I woke up today I did not expect to learn the German word for 'token black guy' before the end of the day, but here we are...

"Qotenschwarzer" sounds pretty insane.

He misspelled it as well. Quoten- anything means token [insert group].

 

[OleBoiii]

He misspelled it as well. Quoten- anything means token [insert group].

Of course he misspelled it.

"Schwarzer" sounds eerily close to the Norwegian slur for black people. Seeing as there are many similarities between Norwegian and German, am I right to assume that Lehmann would have been sacked even if he dropped the token part?

 

[Rektsanwalt]

Of course he misspelled it.

"Schwarzer" sounds eerily close to the Norwegian slur for black people. Seeing as there are many similarities between Norwegian and German, am I right to assume that Lehmann would have been sacked even if he dropped the token part?

no, it means black person and is no slur here

 

[Pagh Wraith]

Of course he misspelled it.

"Schwarzer" sounds eerily close to the Norwegian slur for black people. Seeing as there are many similarities between Norwegian and German, am I right to assume that Lehmann would have been sacked even if he dropped the token part?

Heavily depends on how and in which context you say it. Schwarzer on its own just means 'black one' or black anything. Could be a car or any object with black colour if the noun is not specified. Of course in the message that Lehmann sent, dropping the Quoten- part wouldn't change much. "So Dennis is your black guy?" Just as bad.

 

[rimaldo]

My favourite part of this is "are".

sorry for being passionate about blighty. god save are queen.

 

[Andi Latte]

Of course he misspelled it.

"Schwarzer" sounds eerily close to the Norwegian slur for black people. Seeing as there are many similarities between Norwegian and German, am I right to assume that Lehmann would have been sacked even if he dropped the token part?

"Schwarzer" just means "black person", as "schwarz" is the color black. Nothing wrong with that alone, that's pretty much your default wording for people of color in German.

It really is the affix "Quoten-" which makes the message bad.

 

[Brophs]

His explanation in that Mirror article is ridiculous:

“I've already phoned Dennis and asked him for forgiveness if what I said came over as disrespectful. It was not meant that way at all, it was meant positively. Because he is very knowledgeable and strong in his appearances as a Sky expert. And so he has increased the ratings. That's what I wanted to say, but I expressed it badly.”

 

[lysglimt]

I feel for the german commentator trying to read the line-ups if Mark Schwarzer is in goal.......oh and do NOT make any Schwarzer quotes in Germany

 

[Neil_Buchanan]

These days you get arrested and thrown in jail just for saying you’re German.

 

[R77]

I don't understand how it's possible to send a message to the wrong person on whatsapp. You'd have to be very absent minded/wrecked or have some odd naming conventions in your contacts.

 

[OleBoiii]

I feel for the german commentator trying to read the line-ups if Mark Schwarzer is in goal.......oh and do NOT make any Schwarzer quotes in Germany

Token goalkeeper?

Shit, I found a better excuse for Lehmann!

 

[OleBoiii]

I don't understand how it's possible to send a message to the wrong person on whatsapp. You'd have to be very absent minded/wrecked or have some odd naming conventions in your contacts.

Maybe he has "token" in front of every contact?

Token mother, token pizza guy, token taxi...

 

[JakeC]

These days you get arrested and thrown in jail just for saying you’re German.

You'll get arrested, and thrown in jail, jist for saying you're German??

 

[calodo2003]

When I woke up today I did not expect to learn the German word for 'token black guy' before the end of the day, but here we are...

"Qotenschwarzer" sounds pretty insane.

It’s cool learning new, totally random shit.

 

[Sandikan]

All very to sack some old guy on a "supervisory board".

Wouldn't have done anything of the sort if he was a player worth untold millions would they?