German rightwing party apologises for Jérôme Boateng comments

Alternative für Deutschland’s Alexander Gauland had said Germans
like footballer but would not want him living next door

Philip Oltermann
Sunday 29 May 2016 12.10 BST

Germany’s anti-immigration party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has apologised after its deputy leader was quoted as saying that, while most people admired the international footballer Jérôme Boateng, they wouldn’t want to live next door to him.

The newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung quoted AfD politician Alexander Gauland saying that “people like him as a football player. But they don’t want to have a Boateng as their neighbour.”

Bayern Munich defender Boateng, who is teetotal and a practising Christian, has a German mother and Ghanaian father. He has been mooted as a stand-in for the national captaincy at the upcoming European Championships in France.

Widespread criticism led Gauland to release a statement denying that he meant to insult the player. He said he had not made the comments in the form quoted by the newspaper, adding: “I don’t know him (Boateng) and would never come up with the idea of denigrating his personality.”

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