Actually, Sarah Connor should sing at the RTL annual review "People, Pictures, Emotions 2022" on Sunday evening and be one of the star guests of the evening. But due to a cold, she had to cancel her appearance at short notice – she probably got it from her kindergarten children, as she explained herself.

However, she was briefly switched on live by telephone - and had to endure a nasty comment from Thomas Gottschalk, who for the first time moderated the program together with ex-Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and thus succeeded Günther Jauch.

Connor sounded cold when she was asked by Gottschalk about her illness. He was standing in the studio and next to him the lottery millionaire Chico was leaning against his silver Ferrari, which he was allowed to drive into the middle of the studio. When Gottschalk then moderated Connor, Chico said she was "his dream woman" – and Gottschalk joked that maybe he could "thread something there".

"Sarah, do you hear me, I just found your dream man," said Gottschalk in greeting and pointed to the millionaire. Connor just laughed and said "Hello, sweethearts". She explained: "It's definitely a bad cold and that was kind of to be expected because everyone around me was falling down in rows. I thought I could get through this the whole time, but now I've got it. I do really sorry I can't be there."

Instead of wishes for recovery, moderator Gottschalk brought a nasty saying: "I said to my employees: It was a shitty year, but there is also good news: Sarah Connor canceled." He also reported on the reactions: "They all booed me, they were looking forward to you." But he was also looking forward to seeing her, Gottschalk tried to put his statement into perspective.

Connor tried not to show anything, even started a small talk with Chico about his thick down jacket and the temperatures in the studio. He immediately took his chance: "Wanted to invite you for a coffee, so friendly of course." The guests in the studio laugh and Connor replied that he should rather come to one of their concerts.

But Gottschalk's comment outraged her, as she lets her fans know in her Instagram story. "Ok, what was that?" Wrote the singer, next to a TV and a telephone emoji as an allusion to her live connection and the quote from Gottschalk. The slide also has the hashtags "RTL, you still have a lot to learn" and "I don't have to put up with it". With "old white men" she should mean moderator Gottschalk.

For Thomas Gottschalk it is not the first faux pas lately. Even with the last edition of "Wetten, dass..?" he was criticized when he simply incorrectly moderated national soccer player Giulia Gwinn as "Giuliana Gwinn" and otherwise didn't seem as if he had informed himself well about his guests.