Belated controversy over remark by Germany's Scholz at private party
At the party, Scholz reportedly again accused challenger Friedrich Merz of the centre-right CDU/CSU of angling his party toward a tacit alliance with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), something Merz has strenuously denied.
Another guest at the party, Berlin's culture minister, Joe Chialo, reportedly challenged Scholz's remarks - leading the chancellor to shoot back that "every party has their court jesters," according to a report by FOCUS magazine, whose editor-in-chief was also at the event.
The magazine accused Scholz of racism with the remark about Chialo, who is black. The chancellor vehemently denied any such allegation.
"The term I used here has no racist connotations and was never intended to be used in this way," Scholz said in a statement on Wednesday released by his centre-left Social Democrats. "The accusation of racism is absurd and artificially constructed."
Chialo declined to comment on the incident. A spokesman for his ministry in Berlin confirmed that there had been an "incident" at an event attended by Scholz and Chialo, but said that he "will not comment further."
The birthday party took place about 10 days ago, but was only revealed in the FOCUS report on Wednesday, less than two weeks before the February 23 elections in Germany.
Scholz is trying to mount a comeback and secure a second term as chancellor in the campaign against Merz, who is widely viewed as the front-runner to defeat him.
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