GettyToday, the world bid a fond farewell to the great comedic actor of Fawlty Towers fame, Andrew Sachs.
After it was announced on Thursday that the Berlin-born actor had passed away the previous week, the Daily Mail ran a front page tribute to 86-year-old Sachs alongside the image of his best known character; Manuel, an immigrant hotel worker.
However, true to form, the paper ran the headline, ‘Migrant numbers hit new records’. With the Daily Mail often berated for its fear-mongering headlines about migration, commentators have not failed to point out the hypocrisy here.
I won't be the first today to point out that Andrew Sachs was a migrant, having fled Nazi Germany. pic.twitter.com/vyF17f0R1m
— Richard Littler (@richard_littler) December 2, 2016
RIP Andreas Siegfried "Andrew" Sachs, a German Jewish immigrant who moved to Britain to escape the Nazis. The Daily Mail knows no irony. pic.twitter.com/z97CVgGR25
— Bessemer (@Bessemerband) December 1, 2016
Andrew Sachs fled the nazis. Character Manuel was an immigrant worker. How can the Mail place his photo next to another xenophobic rant?! pic.twitter.com/uOr48oY3pX
— Rebecca McDonald (@Rebecca_LM) December 2, 2016
RIP Andrew Sachs. By the way Daily Mail, he was an immigrant, a refugee to the UK escaping the Nazis. Great headline placement. pic.twitter.com/w4KBcGmtGX
— Darren Bell (@darren_bell) December 2, 2016
What an outstandingly stupid way to shit all over the memory of Andrew Sachs
Well done Daily Mail https://t.co/s0vUZhn7p9
— Taylor (@dtaylor5633) December 2, 2016
One user pointed out the Daily Mail’s longstanding maltreatment of migrants in their headlines.
The Mail mourns Andrew Sachs on its front page today. Here’s what it published in 1938, the year he came to Britain with his Jewish father. pic.twitter.com/PLPlccjtRK
— Shane Richmond (@shanerichmond) December 2, 2016
Having warned the nation for letting Andrew Sachs into the country in 1938, the Daily Mail is now expressing its condolences on his death.
— Michael Rosen (@MichaelRosenYes) December 2, 2016
Andrew Sachs was the son of a Jewish insurance banker, Hans Emil Sachs and his Catholic wife, Katharina Sachs (née Schrott-Fiecht).
Sachs’ father moved the entire family to England from their home in Berlin, fleeing the Nazi regime after he was arrested in 1938 in a restaurant.
In an interview with the Independent, the beloved actor recalled:
We moved to the centre of Berlin and at my second school, coming home one day, I saw the windows of Jewish establishments bashed in after Kristallnacht.
Sachs was eight at the time. He went onto become a television icon, and his colleagues – including Monty Python‘s John Cleese – have been sharing tributes.
Just heard about Andy Sachs. Very sad….
I knew he was having problems with his memory as his wife Melody told me a couple of years ago…— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) December 1, 2016
…and I heard very recently that he had been admitted to Denham Hall,but I had no idea that his life was in danger. A very sweet gentle…
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) December 1, 2016
…and kind man and a truly great farceur.I first saw him in Habeas Corpus on stage in 1973.I could not have found a better Manuel. Inspired
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) December 1, 2016
Although the rag does acknowledge Sachs’ family history in an obituary to the actor on page ten, the front page goes a long way to illustrate the problem with the paper’s insistence on dehumanising immigrants.
Way to be a raving hypocrite, Daily Mail – or as Cleese eloquently put it: The Daily Wail.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.