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Pete Doherty apologises for singing Nazi anthem
Munich audience booed him off stage as he sang Deutschland Uber Alles ‘in error’
The lead singer of the Babyshambles, Pete Doherty, has apologised for his performance in Munich on Saturday night when he outraged the audience by singing the banned Nazi anthem, Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Alles. The radio station Bayerischer Rundfunk, which was broadcasting the show live, had to immediately cut its transmission.
As the audience booed and shouted, Doherty, who according to some reports appeared drunk, carried on with five more songs before organisers of the On3 festival ushered him from the stage.
Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Alles is the first verse of Deutschlandlied, written by Joseph Haydn in 1797. It has not been sung in Germany - except in far right circles - since it was used as the national anthem of the Third Reich.
The correct national anthem these days is the third verse of the same Haydn song, sung to the same tune as Deutschland Uber Alles.
Apologising on Doherty's behalf, a spokeswoman for the singer told Sky TV he had sung it in error and meant no offence. "[He] wanted to celebrate his appearance in Munich by assimilating and integrating with the crowd, something he tries do wherever he goes," she said.
"Peter himself is from Jewish descent and has fought against racism and fascism with numerous organisations including Love Music Hate Racism," she added. "This is a subject he feels very strongly about."
She had no explanation, however, for why Doherty continued to sing another five songs while the audience yelled at him to go home.
And she was not asked about a previous Nazi controversy when Doherty was still lead singer of The Libertines. Back in 2004, the band was criticised for calling one of its numbers Arbeit Macht Frei - the slogan spelt out above the entrances to all Nazi concentration camps. ·
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Silly sod!
"Peter himself is from Jewish descent"......so...? Andrew Brons of the BNP is a third generation immigrant: your ancestors don't stop you from being a bigot. If Docherty didn't court controversy with acts such as this, the Libertines track title mentioned and all his other pathetic drunken/stoned antics he'd be a nobody, still playing in the back rooms of pubs to twenty people with nothing better to do on a Friday night. Some geniuses are alcoholics and drug users, but that doesn't make all alcoholics geniuses..... Oh, and if he 'sang it accidentally' how did he know the words to the whole verse? And exactly how do you accidentally sing something?
The man is obviously an ignorant first-class sh*t who will do anything _ and so dumb he can't see the consequences - for publicity and/or to feed his stupid "fans". Actually that reminds me how hilarious it is to call them "fans" because these are what the sh*t hits.
"She had no explanation, however, for why Doherty continued to sing another five songs while the audience yelled at him to go home."
Hmm... may I suggest a possible explanation? Mr Doherty was completely off his face on drugs/alcohol/god-knows-what and was barely aware of where he was, let alone what the audience were shouting at him. I have no evidence for this, of course, but I do feel it's at least plausible, don't you?