Next show cancellation for Luke Mockridge

Luke Mockridge is under heavy criticism. In a podcast, he caused outrage with statements about the athletes at the Paralympics. The controversial statements have far-reaching consequences for his career: a planned appearance on the comedy show “Nightwash” was canceled at short notice and his new TV show on Sat.1 will not be broadcast as planned.

One of the comments the 35-year-old made on the “Die Deutschen” podcast was: “There are people without legs and arms, you throw them into a pool – and whoever drowns last wins.” There was a lot of backlash for the supposed comedian after that. Olympic champion Kristina Vogel, who is paraplegic, also criticized him publicly. On Instagram, the 33-year-old wrote: “It's unbelievable that there are still people who say such inhumane crap and put down disabled people.”

Performance cancellation and TV show stop

The immediate reaction to his comments was not long in coming. He was scheduled to appear at the comedy event “Nightwash” in Paderborn on September 8th, which took place in the Neuhäuser Schloss- und Auenpark. But the organizer removed him from the line-up at short notice. The managing director of the Schlosspark- und Lippesee-Gesellschaft, Christian Stork, confirmed the death to the local press in advance.

The TV station Sat.1 also took action. The start of the planned TV show “What's in the Box?”, which Luke Mockridge was supposed to host, was postponed. The show was supposed to be broadcast for the first time on September 12th, but the station decided not to launch the show for the time being.

A spokesman for Sat.1 commented on the decision: “The statements about disabled people and para-athletes, which many people are rightly outraged about, do not fit with our values.”

The president of the Berlin Disabled and Rehabilitation Sports Association, Özcan Mutlu, also strongly condemned the comments. He described them as an “unparalleled slip-up” and demanded a serious apology. “This cannot be dismissed as comedy or mere stupidity,” Mutlu said in a statement. He said that Luke Mockridge should be “deeply ashamed.”

Apology and invitation to change perspective

Amid the criticism, Luke Mockridge posted an apology on his social media channels. He explained that it was never his intention to ridicule people with disabilities. This was especially true during the Paralympics in Paris. In his statement, he stressed: “From my own experience of working with disabled people, I have always experienced a sharp, black sense of humor that I have celebrated. I am truly sorry that I failed to convey that properly and that I have hurt people.”

He accepted the invitation from the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS). The aim is to personally convince himself of the achievements of the para-athletes.

The DBS welcomed his willingness to take a closer look at para-sports, but also stressed the importance of changing perspectives. In an official statement, it said: “We would like to encourage people to watch para-sports live in order to experience the impressive achievements that people with disabilities are capable of – and to understand what areas they represent for our society.” “