Gil Ofarim is just the tip of the iceberg
His case shakes society: Gil Ofarim admits to having lied. But he is not the only celebrity to use resentment as an end in itself. Focusing on supposed injustices is booming on social media. A text about the joys of algorithms and an insight behind the scenes of hotel gastronomy.
It was a now famous video that "bam, bam, bam" quickly went viral, not least because a celebrity with a wide reach shared it on social media. The entire media landscape was full of articles and discussions about how quickly people showed solidarity with the singer Gil Ofarim as an alleged victim of anti-Semitism in a Leipzig hotel.
In a collective gasp, many joined in the canon of outrage and Ofarim repeated his lies over and over again in front of the cameras. He was now someone who had finally ensured that a huge problem in our society was on the agenda. People who didn't speak out or tried to take the wind out of the heated debate by saying, for example, that we should wait for the investigation and listen to the side of the accused hotel, also found themselves at risk of a shitstorm or, in the anticipatory obedience of peer pressure, were sometimes accused of being "perpetrator protectors".
But, as my colleague Volker Probst writes in his commentary on the Ofarim case: "The press can and must take a good look at itself in this matter and admit that this was not a glorious affair in parts, even if the initial reflex in this case in particular may have been understandable and in some ways even a positive sign."
When the issue surrounding Ofarim and the hotel employee who became known as "Mr. W." went through the roof in the media, I kept catching myself thinking about things that, at least I felt, had happened in another life. Let's put it casually: I come from the catering industry. I completed a three-year vocational training course and, like many other students, financed my studies by working as a waiter alongside my studies or, like "Mr. W.", by standing at reception and checking guests in and out.
Dissatisfied guests are poison for your reputation
I waited tables in the poshest hotels in Berlin, mixed cocktails in luxury hotels on Ku'damm and worked as a night porter. Anyone working in these fields could tell you the craziest stories they've experienced with celebrities. These are mostly anecdotes that never become public knowledge, because the guest's privacy is the top priority.
Nevertheless, people from the hospitality industry love to share their stories with each other. Everyone has their very own celebrity highlight. There are so many little secrets about big stars that will forever lie dormant in the walls of hotel rooms. And of course there are also the well-known stories of rock stars who are kicked out on edge because they have trashed hotel rooms, destroyed furniture and thrown televisions out of the window.
When Ofarim's case caused a stir in the media, I remembered one thing in particular: the many, many staff training sessions! The good reputation of a hotel is the be-all and end-all. Dissatisfied guests are pure poison. An unhappy guest, as I learned in these training courses, tells many more people about their negative experiences than someone who was completely satisfied with the service. I learned how not to lose my cool even with the worst guests. The top priority: don't let yourself get triggered, stay calm, objective and level-headed. And very often, guests who were ranting or raving were then off the boil again and even apologized for their inappropriate tone.
I've had to deal with the most unpleasant contemporaries, people who really intended to make a stink from the outset. There was also training for these particular candidates - and of course that doesn't mean you have to put up with everything! What I found very difficult to imagine, however, was a hotel employee making such a reputationally damaging comment to a guest that he was supposed to have said: "Put your star away!"
Riot is rewarded with attention
I immediately thought that he would not have been called to report to the hotel manager, but would have been fired immediately. It sounded so absurd that I convinced myself it must be true. In my opinion, however, calling for prudence when someone sits down in front of a camera and reports unspeakable things is not enough. Although the case of Gil Ofarim is now very well known, it is in fact only the tip of the iceberg.
Above all, and this needs to be said very clearly, the algorithms of social media platforms programmed to cause a ruckus are part of the evil. Anything that attracts or triggers attention is rewarded by the algorithm. It is a perverted reward principle, with clicks and likes as the currency. Every day, thousands of people sit down in front of a camera on social media and tell the most touching stories. Many of them are true, but just as many of them are just as fake.
However, when these stories come from well-known public figures, the oh-so-common people and the community quickly tend to blindly believe everything. As if celebrities are the better people. As soon as a celebrity's account is backed by a large reach and management, this is seen as a kind of free pass. Because with power (fame) comes privilege. Power is something that many people are not good at handling. This can be seen in the millions of cases in which it is misused for one's own inadequacy.
For example, on a winter evening in 2021, TV personality Nicolas Puschmann held a camera up to his face and filmed himself covered in blood after an alleged homophobic attack with the words: "That's just how it is sometimes as a gay man in Germany." As with Ofarim, the community was horrified. The alleged attacker even had to stand trial for grievous bodily harm.
"You don't know who I am!"
Puschmann, until then a role model for the queer community in Germany, had also invented the incident. The alleged attacker was acquitted. And here, too, it was mainly the witnesses' statements that revealed the image of a person who seems to walk around with the attitude that the whole world should know him. He stood up in front of the alleged attacker and kept saying: "You don't know who I am!"
It is often the hurt ego that causes people who think they are celebrities to fly off the handle. They are then happy to turn to their community, because fans believe (almost) everything anyway.
A bad meal in a restaurant? Unfriendly service? Bitchy sales staff? Make a video first! It is now commonplace for review portals for hotels and restaurants to be overrun by a mob with 1-star reviews. Reports from third parties, completely uninvolved, have also increased. Anyone who abuses their power as a public figure to elevate themselves has not only done a disservice to their community, but to society as a whole. You are role models for many people, so behave like one! And stop the hypocrisy of wanting to educate people about grievances while you're actually planning to feed the algorithm. Bam, bam - pathetic!
The viral video of the alleged anti-Semitic incident in the Leipzig hotel sparked a wave of anti-Semitic sentiment on social media, where processes of collectivized outrage and swift condemnation are now common. In this context, celebrities like Gil Ofarim can inadvertently contribute to this cycle, as their influence on social media platforms amplifies narratives and reinforces stereotypes.
Moreover, the line between entertainment and agitation on social media has become increasingly blurred. Celebrities, in seeking to gain notoriety and attention, can often push the boundaries of responsible behavior, using platforms like Twitter or Instagram to spread misinformation and inflame emotions with impunity. The power dynamics of celebrity, social media, and their impact on public discourse are complex and require a nuanced understanding of the underlying processes at play.
Source: www.ntv.de
