Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner was found guilty of libel at the Regional Criminal Court in Vienna on Monday.
The 54-year-old called “Falter” editor-in-chief Florian Klenk a “firm idiot” and “pharma whore” on social networks. He now has to pay 5,000 euros in compensation, publish the judgment and delete the original posting. The judgment is not final.
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At the end of last year, Klenk announced on social networks that he was going through Corona for the second time. “Because I’ve been vaccinated five times, it’s progressing moderately, but it’s still tiring,” he said, appealing to people to believe the doctors and not “the charlatans.” Baumgartner discovered the posting at the end of January and told his 1.2 million followers: “You must be a real idiot if you’re vaccinated five times (!), keep getting Corona and then defend the vaccination. ” He added “pharmaHure” as a hashtag, among other things.
Klenk’s lawyer, Alfred Noll, spoke at the hearing on Monday of a “visible brutalization” on social networks and a “constant desire to personally disparage other people.” They want to make a public statement against it and put a stop to hate online. Klenk had not previously bothered Baumgartner in any way; the insult came out of the blue. If one of the country’s most awarded journalists is accused of letting the pharmaceutical industry pay him for his postings, it would be a clear case of slander, said Noll.
Baumgartner himself did not appear in court. He was represented by lawyer Peter Zöchbauer. He said that Klenk himself likes to dish it out on social networks. In addition, the term “pharmaceutical whore” – which is admittedly “not the finest blade” – should not be understood to mean that one is paid for something, but rather that one is committed to something.
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The judge did not accept this argument. He sentenced Baumgartner to pay compensation of 5,000 euros for defamation. Idiot is an insult and pharmaceutical whore is to be understood as meaning that you work for the pharmaceutical industry for a fee and allow your journalistic work to be influenced. The high number of Baumgartner’s followers makes a “noticeable fine” necessary.
Since Baumgartner’s lawyer made no statement, the verdict is not final. Klenk waived his right to appeal and subsequently said he was “satisfied” with the verdict. A signal was sent that you shouldn’t just insult people on the Internet. He doesn’t want to enrich himself and will transfer the compensation to the Momo mobile children’s hospice.
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Klenk not only sued Baumgartner for defamation under Section 6 of the Media Act, but also asked all those people who shared Baumgartner’s post on social networks to transfer 500 euros to the Momo children’s hospice. Otherwise, he said, he would sue them too. Klenk told the APA on Monday that one person had transferred the amount and many others had apologized to him. Since he is not a “litigation guy,” he leaves it at that. According to lawyer Zöchbauer, Baumgartner also donated 5,000 euros to Momo.
Baumgartner not only attracted attention with his stratospheric jump years ago, but also with his repeated postings on social networks. Most recently, he insulted ORF weather expert Marcus Wadsak, who described the accumulation of extreme weather events as clearly man-made and therefore knows most of the science behind him, as a “clown”. Baumgartner wrote about a “climate lie” and drew parallels to the corona pandemic. “There are a lot of fools out there who believe what politicians, the media and third-party funded scientists say,” he said, speaking out against the scientific mainstream. The ORF announced that differing opinions should of course be respected. “However, a red line is crossed when people are insulted and denigrated,” said the public media company.