Politician Apologises for Using N-Word in Discussion About Racism

A German politician vying to become her country’s next leader apologised Sunday for using the N-word at a recent public appearance, saying it “was wrong and I'm sorry.”

Annalena Baerbock, the Greens co-leader and their candidate in the race to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel in elections in September, said she had used the slur at a recorded appearance Tuesday alongside other politicians for Germany’s Central Council of Jews.

In a tweet thread on Sunday, Baerbock said she had unwisely used the word during a discussion on racism when recounting a story about a friend’s son who had refused to complete assigned schoolwork that involved a worksheet with the N-word written on it.

“Unfortunately, in the recording of the interview, I quoted the N-word in the emotional description of this unspeakable incident, and thus reproduced it myself,” she tweeted.

“That was wrong and I'm sorry. Because I know about the racist origin of this word and the injuries that Black people experience from it, among other things.”

The 40-year-old Baerbock is one of three major candidates vying to replace Merkel as Germany’s leader should their parties win the federal elections later this year. The race will see Baerbock facing off against North Rhine-Westphalia’s state premier Armin Laschet, from Merkel’s centre-right CDU, and Olaf Scholz, Germany’s current finance minister from the centre-left SPD.

While the Greens led the polls earlier in the year, they’ve since fallen into second place, about 10 points behind the CDU, who are drawing about 28 percent support. Baerbock has personally weathered a series of setbacks on the campaign trail, facing allegations she plagiarised passages in a recent book, failed to declare thousands of euros in extra income she received from her party, and embellished her resumé.

In response, Baerbock admitted mistakes in the sourcing of her book, acknowledged she had failed to declare the additional funds, and corrected the inconsistencies in her resumé after they were highlighted by a journalist on Twitter.

But Baerbock isn’t the only candidate to hit turbulence in her campaign. On Sunday, Laschet apologised once again on German television for his insensitivity, after he was caught on camera laughing at a joke while President Frank-Walter Steinmeier briefed reporters about support for people affected by Germany’s recent deadly floods.

"It was stupid and shouldn't have happened, and I regret it," Laschet told ZDF television. "I am sorry. I can't say much more."