AWKWARD

Media Honcho Said He Was ‘All for Climate Change’ in Leaked Messages

Mathias Döpfner now says the messages do not reveal “my ‘true way of thinking.’”

The German CEO of publishing company Axel Springer was eager for climate change to take hold, disparaged Muslims, and argued for Donald Trump to get the Nobel Peace Prize—and for Barack Obama’s to be rescinded, according to a bombshell report in the German publication Die Zeit. In texts and emails obtained by the outlet, Mathias Döpfner said he was “all for climate change,” believing humans were more productive in warmer weather. He described his foreign policy views as “Free west, fuck the intolerant Muslims and all the other riff-raff,” according to the outlet, and he said Trump’s 2020 strike on Iranian general Qasem Soleimani deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. “And take it away from ibama,” he wrote, according to Die Zeit. In a statement seen by The Guardian, Döpfner said “out-of-context fragments of texts and conservations cannot be held up as my ‘true way of thinking.’” Axel Springer owns multiple U.S. outlets including Politico, Business Insider, and Morning Brew.