The China Copy

Böhmermann, fresh from winning a Grimme Prize, fed Raab a story about Chinese file-sharing sites pirating TV Total and him missing licensing fees. Raab bought it completely and got genuinely angry. The prank was simple—just a plausible scenario designed to trigger outrage, no elaborate setup needed. It worked because that’s how it goes: you hear someone’s stealing from you and you react before you think. Böhmermann was riding high and testing his power, essentially. Raab fell for it.