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The tragedy of an innocent man: Sylt video scandal hits Thomas Allesmann
A man is fired after a controversial video of Sylt party guests. A court recognizes his innocence.
The tragedy of an innocent man: Sylt video scandal hits Thomas Allesmann
A video that made the rounds on May 24th revealed frightening scenes from the prominent bar “Pony” on Sylt. Men can be seen shouting racist slogans. A protagonist who wishes to remain anonymous and is referred to as “Thomas Everyman” now has his version of events star published. After the publication of the video, which shows a large, thoughtless group of people singing loud slogans such as "Germany for the Germans, foreigners out" to the tune of Gigi D'Agostino's "L'Amour toujours", he lost his job and several teaching positions. Thomas, who was close to the scandalous scene, was falsely identified as a follower and publicly denounced, although the Hamburg district court found that he was not involved in the others' behavior. Despite this legal relief, he remained stranded in his career and now faces the loss of his professional identity.
Professional and personal consequences
After the video was published, his employer was forced to act quickly in the face of public outrage. Thomas Allesmann was immediately fired, although he vehemently defended himself against the allegations. In the days following the incident, his situation became even more worrying: due to the negative press, he was forced to give up his teaching positions at three universities. He describes the experience as stressful and states that he has resigned from all his teaching positions for fear of constantly being confronted with an explanation of the events. His family and social support helped him weather this emotional storm.
This is not only a story about unacceptable behavior in public, but also about the destructive effects of public shaming. Thomas Allesmann's statements make it clear how powerless one can feel in such a terrible situation. “I was shocked,” he says, describing how quickly a person’s life can change because of a single moment of fate. Media reporting and the heated mood in society often lead to innocent people being punished for the behavior of others, as the events surrounding the “Sylt video” clearly show in the star described.