Jailed tennis ace Boris Becker has challenged a German court’s verdict to dismiss an injunction against a comedian who had tricked him into accepting cash for a TV prank.
Becker, aged 55, appealed to the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court after the Offenburg district court dismissed the injunction application against German comedian Oliver Pocher, 44, on 15th November.
Offenburg district court judges ruled that the broadcasting of Pocher’s prank, which shows the three-time Wimbledon champion accepting a fake trophy full of banknotes, did not violate Becker’s personal rights.
Becker’s lawyer Samy Hammad, 52, claimed: “It’s about the unauthorized sending of film materials. In the process, Boris Becker was ridiculed.”
The prank was reportedly filmed for RTL programme Pocher – gefaehrlich ehrlich’ (‘Pocher: Dangerously Honest’) in October 2020.
For the purposes of the show, Pocher, had raised EUR 541.11 (GBP 475) in donations for the six-time Grand Slam winner with the slogan ‘Make Boris Rich Again’.
Becker had refused to accept the money, but the comedian then invited him to a supposed fashion award ceremony backed by a fictional Austrian magazine.
During the show, Becker was shown receiving what he thought was a genuine award, a fake trophy filled with cash, for his stylish clothes.
He even announced the prize on Instagram, before realising it was a prank and deciding to file a lawsuit against Pocher in June 2022.
A court spokesperson said: “The plaintiff did not know that the prize was created and awarded to the plaintiff for the sole purpose of sending him the collected cash amount – hidden in the prize trophy.”
Then Oliver Pocher’s lawyer Dr. Patricia Cronemeyer, 44, commented: “Maybe it would have been wiser – especially from today’s perspective – if Mr. Becker had not started this legal dispute.”
She also added that her client had not once insulted Becker in the programme.
Meanwhile, Becker who has served eight months of his two-and-a-half-year sentence for GBP 2.5 million bankruptcy fraud, appears to be set for his return to Germany this week, after having secured a reduction in his British prison sentence.
The process continues.
