BERLIN (AP) — Vandals set fire to a mouse statue that's a TV star and mascot for children's programming at German broadcaster WDR, the television station said Saturday.
The cartoon mouse, known only as “Die Maus,” is the eponymous star of “Die Sendung mit der Maus” (The Show with the Mouse) since it first aired in West Germany in 1971. Each short episode features other languages and educational segments.
The statue — featuring the character's famous orange body with brown ears, arms and legs — greets families and children outside a media building in Cologne, Germany.
A receptionist for WDR saw several young people standing around the statue in Cologne on a camera feed overnight Friday into Saturday. She then noticed flames and called the fire department, WDR said.
The fire blackened parts of the mouse's face and arm, images show. The station said a police complaint had been filed against an unidentified person.
Matthias Körnich, head of children's programming for WDR, said it's not just a figurine that was damaged.
“A piece of childhood, a symbol of joy and togetherness has been attacked,” he said. “The mouse belongs to Cologne.”
The mouse statue isn't the first German TV character to be attacked.
In 2009, the statue of a depressed German loaf of bread named Bernd das Brot (Bernd the Bread) was stolen from his traditional place outside the town hall in Erfurt, where German children’s public television channel KiKA is based.
Bernd, a cult classic in Germany, was held hostage for nearly two weeks before being discovered unharmed in an abandoned barracks.
A mouse statue that has been set on fire stands in front of the WDR (West German Broadcasting Corporation) building in Cologne, Germany, Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Sascha Thelen/dpa via AP)
LONDON (AP) — Broadcaster Channel 4 has pulled all episodes of “Married at First Sight UK” from its platforms after three contestants claimed they were sexually assaulted by on-screen partners on the matchmaking reality show.
The broadcaster said the allegations are “very serious,” and the British government said Tuesday there must be “consequences for criminality or wrongdoing.”
“Married at First Sight” is an international reality TV franchise inspired by a Danish original, with editions in countries including the U.S., Australia and South Africa. Strangers are matched by experts and move in together after mock wedding ceremonies.
Two women who appeared on the British show say they were raped by their on-screen husbands, and a third claims she was subjected to a nonconsensual sexual act.
The claims were made during an investigation by the BBC current affairs program “Panorama.” The BBC said the claimants have not contacted the police, and the men involved dispute the allegations.
Conservative lawmaker Caroline Dinenage, who heads the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, told the BBC that the show clearly involves “an element of risk.”
“It’s a TV show that almost expects and anticipates people that have only just met will have to become really quite intimate with each other,” she told the BBC. “They’re expected to share a bed and a life together within minutes of meeting. It almost feels like an accident waiting to happen.”
The U.K. version of the program is made by independent production company CPL. It has run for 10 seasons on Channel 4, with an 11th scheduled for broadcast this year. CPL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The broadcaster said the show is produced under “some of the most comprehensive and robust welfare protocols in the industry,” including background checks, a code of conduct setting out behavioral standards and “daily contributor check-ins with a specialist welfare team.”
It has ordered a review of its welfare standards and procedures.
“I want to express my sympathy to contributors who have clearly been distressed after taking part in ‘Married at First Sight UK,’” Channel 4 chief executive Priya Dogra said. “The well-being of our contributors is always of paramount importance.”
The claims are the latest incident to spark debate in Britain about the ethics of reality TV and the pressures placed on participants. Two former contestants on the show “Love Island” died by suicide in 2018 and 2019 and the show’s former presenter, Caroline Flack, took her own life in 2020.
Controversies also have roiled the BBC, Britain’s publicly funded national broadcaster. The BBC introduced chaperones on the dance competition “Strictly Come Dancing” after allegations of bullying and harassment in 2024. The hosts of cooking contest “MasterChef,” Gregg Wallace and John Torode, were fired last year after investigations into allegations of inappropriate behavior.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of sexual violence. If you or someone you know needs help, please call 1-800-656-4673 in the U.S.
FILE - General view at the entrance of the Channel 4 Headquarters in London, on April 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
