[gegenschall]

This is an interesting one and I’m going entirely off anecdotal evidence here: yes, you will be seeing David Hasselhoff posters and the like quite often throughout Germany. Me personally, I have yet to meet a single person who unironically likes his music or is a „fan“ (whatever that may mean to you) - and this holds true for the generation of my parents as well.

My working theory is that there’s some kind of reverse self-fulfilling prophecy at play here: It’s been imposed on Germans that “we love Hasselhoff” over and over again and at some point we just went with it, albeit it’s mostly and irony thing now.

Then again, I might be totally off and not realize that I’m looking at it from within a bubble of people not actually liking him.

[prionic6]

I don’t know if there is a _current_ fanbase of The Hoff in Germany. But back then, Knight Rider and Baywatch were huge here and _I‘ve been looking for freedom_ was one of the most played songs. And then there is the Berlin Wall incident.

[jFriedensreich]

ah i see, well you cannot mix up his music and acting careers. his music career is usually perceived as funny and liking it as a bit ironic, that does not mean that his roles in knight rider and baywatch are not truly loved by many. Just play the opening scene of knight rider at a random party of 30 somethings and you will see the reaction.