Sexist Ballerman wins
Buschmann finds Würzburg’s “Layla” ban wrong

07/12/2022, 10:12 pm

The party song “Layla” with its sexual lyrics drives a mood in many marquees. That should not be the case at the Würzburg Kiliani Folk Festival. The city bans the playing of the song. This is going too far for the Union Justice Minister.

Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschman has spoken out about the controversial party song “Laila” in the sexist debate. “You don’t have to like hit lyrics. You may find them stupid or even tasteless. But to officially ban them, I think, is one too many,” the FDP politician wrote on Twitter.

Earlier in the week it became known that “Laila” could not be played at the Würzburg Giliani Folk Festival at the insistence of the city. Country festival organizers have asked the marquee operator not to play the song, a city spokeswoman said.

DJ Rabin & Schurz’s Ballerman hit “Laila” is a hit with many entertainers and is currently number one on the German singles chart. About the rhythmic electronic music, the song says, among other things: “I have a brothel, the mother of my brothel’s name is Laila. She’s beautiful, young, horn (…) Beautiful Laila, horn Laila. Bitch Laila, ours is Laila (…) .”

Can’t understand DJ Robin’s excitement, the song is not sexist. “People will sing ‘corruption in the forbidden area’ or ‘we’re going to the brothel in Barcelona,'” Bild newspaper quoted him as saying.

“Of course the song is sexist,” said Michael Fischer, a music expert at the University of Freiburg. “The fact that the protagonist of the video clip is a man in high heels, a black miniskirt and a blonde wig doesn’t change the nature of the song. It’s beyond irony or contrast.”

The city of Würzburg had already reached an agreement with folk festival organizers that the controversial “Donaulied” would no longer be played. A song about a man raping a scantily clad woman sleeping on a river bank. When she accuses him of getting her pregnant, he only retorts: “What do you think of me, you idiot? I always carry a rubber band with me”.