Andrea Kiewel Sparks Outrage with a Sarcastic Comment

Here's what it's all about

• On the "ZDF-Fernsehgarten" program, host Andrea Kiewel points to a Japanese Pokémon card—and mistakenly identifies it as Chinese.
• Then, laughing, she mimics Japanese characters using a derogatory made-up language.
• There is widespread outrage on social media: Critics are calling it everyday racism on public television.

Summary created with

Sunday’s “ZDF-Fernsehgarten” was set to be a nostalgic TV show. Under the theme “90s Dance Party,” the show was all about hits, trends, and memories from the ’90s. Of course, Pokémon cards were a must.

Host Andrea Kiewel spoke with two female collectors who, among other things, had brought along a special Pikachu set. The set featured the famous yellow Pokémon figure on cards in nine different languages.

At first, everything went smoothly. The cards were presented one after another, and each time the word “hello” was read aloud in the corresponding language. French, English, Italian, and Spanish went off without a hitch.

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But then a scene unfolded that has sparked fierce criticism online. Kiewel pointed to a map of Japan but referred to it as “the Chinese one”—and then, laughing, pretended to read the characters aloud.

During the program, the host uttered a sequence of sounds with racist connotations that has been used for decades to mock Asian languages.

"What century are we living in?"

Shortly after the show aired, this situation was picked up on social media, and Andrea Kiewel was sharply criticized.

For many, the scene was not just a harmless slip of the tongue, but an example of how racially charged stereotypes are still reproduced as a matter of course on entertainment television.

The influencer and streamer mr.fujicards was particularly outspoken on TikTok. The fact that Kiewel initially referred to Japanese characters as Chinese is problematic in itself.

Even more troubling, however, is that she then responded using derogatory, made-up language. “What century are we living in?” he asks, stunned.

For him, it’s clear: The scene is “not a harmless joke,” but an “absolute no-go”—especially on a live public broadcaster program. For many people of Asian descent, such remarks are part of everyday life and contribute to ridiculing their languages, cultures, and identities.

Kiewel and ZDF have since apologized for the remarks. “The off-the-cuff comment was made in the heat of the moment during the live broadcast and was in no way intended to be racist,” ZDF told the dpa news agency. “Andrea Kiewel regrets her words and apologizes for them.” ZDF explicitly opposes any form of racism, the statement continued.

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