Vip Vip, Hooray!: "Looked at soberly, it was better drunk"

The year is still young, but Nino de Angelo is already emotionally on the barricades.

Vip Vip, Hooray!: "Looked at soberly, it was better drunk"

The year is still young, but Nino de Angelo is already emotionally on the barricades. The reason: stupid and pretentious comments on his social media account because the singer is drinking alcohol again. His motto: "Those who drink smarter get more out of life."

As if it were yesterday, I can still see the following scene in front of me today: It's the 80s, my brother and I are sitting with my parents on the blue folding couch and the hit parade with Dieter Thomas Heck is on the telly. Nino de Angelo smashes his hit song "Jenseits von Eden" and mother says enthusiastically and threateningly at the same time: "So, now please absolute silence!" Father's two empty beer bottles are on the table. It was before his visits to Alcoholics Anonymous and so, dear readers - vip vip, hooray! Welcome to the first column of 2023, combined with best wishes for the new year.

And? Did you treat yourself to a glass or two of bubbly on New Year's Eve? With this question we are directly with today's celebrity: Nino de Angelo. When Nino performed his hits in the 80s and made many fans' hearts beat faster, a digital madhouse called Instagram was unthinkable. Stars gave interviews in magazines that were bought at kiosks, and their likenesses were emblazoned on the walls of countless children's and young people's rooms as large "Bravo" star cuts. Today, of course, celebrities also use the various social media platforms diligently, but often they don't do themselves any favors with their self-filmed dances, freaks, messages or make-up tutorials. The desired closeness often goes hand in hand with a complete disenchantment of the person.

Nino de Angelo also uses social media to communicate with his fans. To see: pictures of the singer with colleagues, philosophical sayings, varied excerpts from the artist's life. Now the 59-year-old has burst his collar. The reason: he's pipping again. It is well known that the Schlager star consumes alcohol. He himself spoke of being sober for several months, but also said: "Looked at soberly, it was better drunk."

The German-Italian has had an eventful life. It's a bit like he's led three lives at the same time - positive and negative. He has battled lymph node cancer, gambling and cocaine addiction, suffers from an autoimmune disease and as if that weren't enough, he also had to undergo heart surgery which included two bypasses.

Like many artists, Nino de Angelo seems to be a man of extremes. As such, his attitude toward alcohol is similar to that of many people, not just creative ones. Not only since Amy Winehouse did we know that drinking has always been considered a drug for being an artist. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said: "Drinking is the writer's vice."

The great Hemingway is said to have washed down more than 50 martini cocktails down his ever-thirsty throat, Jackson Pollock, the most important painter of abstract expressionism, was not the only one who got behind the wheel with a full tank and thus lost his life at the age of 44. And with Charles Bukowski, intoxication is said to have been the rule, not the exception. As already mentioned, alcohol consumption is not only part of everyday life for artists. But, as is so often the case, alcohol addiction is played down and romanticized, followed by the assumption that a glass of red wine or schnapps increases creative power. For many, excessive alcohol abuse is even the basic requirement for the engine to start at all.

And so we also watch Nino de Angelo getting drunk on alcohol, and how, when he's sick, he brews his very own "medicine" and is of the opinion: "He who drinks smarter gets more out of life ."

For New Year's Eve there was "Williams pear with vodka. Super! With sweet juice the best basis for red wine." Unfortunately, the bottle was empty very quickly. And as it happens when you propagate your lifestyle and the joy of alcohol to the outside world: the well-intentioned advice and nasty comments are not long in coming. Anyone who follows the singer knows how bad his health is and that being an artist is also a fight against addiction. With insults or insults, however, one achieves one thing above all: to trigger those affected negatively.

Because of all the many comments that are under his drunken posts, Nino de Angelo literally flew off his hat brim: "Can't you all sweep your own front door and let me live my life the way I want? (...) And if I drink a vodka shot on New Year's Eve and a glass of red wine, that's my business. (...) Your stupid comments get on my nerves. (...) Leave people alone! (...) I'm not an alcoholic or anything else some shit you paint in your poop pear. I am me and you are you! I don't care about the shit you do either. (...)"

Of course, the singer's feedback on the comments does not provide the desired calm - on the contrary. It polarizes. So some say: "He's absolutely right. Everyone is responsible for their own life and should rather put their energy into it." And the others: "Alk posts speak for themselves, just like the mood swings, this ambivalence is pathological, you don't serve as a role model, alcohol overconsumption cannot be put into perspective, sad." And: "If it annoys you what others think, then stop posting something like that. You make everything public. Log off on social media and then you'll have your peace. (...) You're totally aggressive. But your problem. Then don't keep posting that you're drinking."

Many fans just want to "hug" the singer for his attitude, according to the motto: "Live and let live." They are grateful that Nino says what many do not dare. ("You are a grown man and you can decide for yourself what you do.") But most of them are united by the worried question: "How long do you think your body can take it? (...) 59 years and an ancient man. Leave help you!"

Advice or insults: alcohol is played down immensely in our society. From my own experience I can say that it is an illusion to believe that as a (dry) alcoholic you can drink "in a controlled manner". If you don't want to see that, this addiction has long since torn you into the abyss. It's not social media's job to tell Nino de Angelo that he's in free fall. Of course, it's not particularly smart to post any alk postings on the internet. De Angelo himself says he doesn't want to encourage anyone to drink. But he decided for himself: "Life is too short to do without the beautiful things in life. For me, that includes a good drink and a fine cigar."