Was German Lufthansa pilot "Christoph W." terminated by his employer for refusing to spray chemtrails, and did he then sue them in Nuremberg? No, that's not true: The story originated on the YouTube channel of "Der Postillon," a well-known German satire website. The site has a FAQ that says, "Everything in the Postillon is satire and therefore a blatant lie" in German.
The video (archived here) was published on September 30, 2024, under the original German title "Pilot weigerte sich, Chemtrails zu versprühen: Kündigung!". Translated, that means:
Pilot refused to spray chemtrails: termination!
A version of the video with English subtitles added has been circulating online, for example, in this X post (archived here) published on February 23, 2025.
Click below to watch the video on YouTube:
The YouTube channel the video appeared on belongs to Der Postillon, a German satire website with a FAQ (archived here) that reads:
1. Stimmt das, was im Postillon steht?
Nein, alles, was im Postillon steht, ist Satire und somit dreist zusammengelogen. Alle auftauchenden Charaktere sind fiktional, Ähnlichkeiten mit lebenden Personen sind rein zufällig. Das sollte eigentlich offensichtlich sein, obwohl zahlreiche Kommentare darauf hinweisen, dass vieles hier für bare Münze genommen wird.
Translated:
1. Is what is in the Postillon true?
No, everything in the Postillon is satire and therefore a blatant lie. All characters appearing are fictional, any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental. This should be obvious, although numerous comments indicate that much of it is taken at face value.
The logo of "Der Postillon" was clearly visible in the video:
(Image source: collage of "Der Postillon" logo seen in the video and on the website of Der Postillon created by Lead Stories on February 24, 2025, at 11:30:28 UTC)
The story was looked into earlier by Reuters, Full Fact, Euronews, and Knack.
