Overview
- In a ZEITmagazin interview, the 75-year-old says he has no understanding for people who move to Dubai to evade taxes and live lavishly.
- He repeats that nobody needs a private jet and calls extreme CEO pay and widening inequality unhealthy, echoing recent remarks by Pope Leo XIV and the debate around Elon Musk.
- Gottschalk describes himself as a "Herz-Jesu-Sozialist" who believes people should earn their daily bread and give a fair share back to the community.
- He reflects that status symbols ultimately burden their owners, citing years of meeting many unhappy rich and noting his own loss of a Malibu home in 2018.
- On his retirement path, he plans to host his final big Saturday show on December 6 and is renovating a house in Gräfelfing near Munich for a planned move in November, as he also adopts a more cautious public tone with his wife joining the interview.