Jens Lehmann sacked by Hertha Berlin after ‘token black guy’ message to Dennis Aogo leaked

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Former Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has been sacked from Hertha Berlin’s supervisory board after asking whether a television pundit was being used as a “token black guy”.

Lehmann appeared to accidentally send a message to former Germany international Dennis Aogo which read: “Is Dennis actually your Quotenschwarzer(token black guy)?”

Aogo posted a screenshot of the message on Instagram with the caption: “Wow, are you serious? This message was probably not meant for me.”

Lehmann was sacked by Hertha Berlin on Wednesday in a statement released by the club’s president, Werner Gegenbauer, which read: “Such statements are in no way representative of the values that Hertha BSC stands for. We distance ourselves from all forms of racism and welcome the action taken by TENNOR Holding.”

Lehmann has since posted an apology on Twitter. “In a private message from my mobile phone to Dennis Aogo, an impression was created for which I apologised in conversation with Dennis,” he wrote. “As a former national player he is very knowledgeable and has a great presence and drives ratings to Sky.”

Lehman replaced Jurgen Klinsmann on Hertha’s supervisory board in May last year after taking up various coaching roles and working as a media pundit himself.

The 51-year-old retired as a player in 2011, having spent five full seasons at Arsenal between 2003-2008. He arrived ahead of the historic Invincibles season, won an FA Cup in 2005, and was sent off as Arsenal were defeated in the Champions League final in 2006.

He returned to north London as an emergency backup goalkeeper in the last months of his playing career and spent a year under Arsene Wenger as an assistant coach during the Frenchman’s final season in 2017/18.