Becker’s son files charges against MP for ‘unbearable racist slur’
THE son of the former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker has filed charges against a German nationalist politician who insulted him with a “racist slur”.
Lawyer Christian-oliver Moser told The Associated Press that charges were filed on behalf of Noah Becker following “unbearable and racist remarks” from the Twitter account of Jens Maier, the nationalist MP.
The tweet emerged after an article in a German magazine in which Becker, 23, said Berlin was a “white city” compared with London or Paris. Becker is the son of the three-time Wimbledon winner and his ex-wife Barbara Becker. He works as an artist and musician and lives in Berlin. In the interview with emotion magazine, he was asked if he had experienced racism in Berlin.
“Yes, I have also been attacked because of my brown skin colour,” he said. “In comparison to London or Paris, Berlin is a white city.”
Maier, a member of the Alternative for Germany party (AFD), reacted with a tweet referring to Becker as “the little half-negro”. He later deleted it, then denied writing the tweet himself and said one of his employees wrote it, the German news agency dpa reported.
Earlier this week, another AFD politician ran into trouble over her response to a Cologne police tweet offering New Year greetings in Arabic. Beatrix von Storch tweeted her objections, saying: “Do they think they will calm the barbaric, Muslim, group-raping hordes of men this way?” Von Storch’s Twitter account was blocked for several hours over a suspected breach of rules on hate speech. Police said they filed a criminal complaint to prosecutors over suspected incitement.