'Multicultural Christmas': German State TV Makes Carols Oriental to Avoid 'Melancholy' of Tradition

The "Christkindlesmarkt" in Nürnberg is the oldest and most famous Christmas markets in Germany and taken place annually since as early as the 16th century. The anchor of the German State TV channel Südwestrundfunk (SWR), however, considers traditional Christmas to be sad, melancholic and weepy. In the program, that aired on December 6th last year, he said that he would rather have it happy - or, multicultural - and gives the stage to "cabaret artist" Alexandra Gauger, who proceeds to mock lyrics of Children's carols by singing them in an oriental tone.

The (most likely staged) audience happily claps out of rhythm and provides applause after this arguably cringeworthy freakshow of a television program.

Close to the end the camera captures a disheartened German man standing behind the beaming smile of a woman - looking at the floor and shaking his head in disbelief. The cameraman quickly realizes the error and switches scenes.

German State Television is funded by a mandatory broadcasting tax, that every household is forced to pay, regardless of whether they even own a television or radio. Last year, this compulsory charge, averaging at €215 per household, netted the government 8 billion Euros. Their official goal is to 'broadcast the truth and provide citizens with investigative journalism'. If you don't pay, you can end up in jail. This is what they're really using this funding for.

The program aired last year and hasn't received much attention because my channel was still young, so I reuploaded it.

I apologize for mistranslations and alludes to possibly equivalents of English Christmas Carols that I didn't get.