Overview
- On Friday Lanz explained on the Lanz + Precht podcast that he has deliberately not invited Höcke and said he was still unsure whether Höcke would accept an invitation.
- Philosopher and co-host Richard David Precht agreed that Höcke should be challenged on content but said Höcke's apodictic, hard-to-interrupt style would not fit Precht's more reflective program.
- Lanz noted that other AfD figures such as Tino Chrupalla, Alice Weidel and Beatrix von Storch do appear on his ZDF talk show but that those visits often produce stress before and during recordings.
- Lanz criticized politicians who refuse to greet or shake hands with AfD Bundestag members and said such refusals deepen political rifts that make in-studio debate harder to manage.
- The podcast episode is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and ZDF's YouTube channel, and the exchange highlights broader newsroom choices about when to platform far-right actors and how format, decorum and past provocations shape those decisions.