German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), says he might take legal action over the report claiming that he racially insulted one of his conservative opponents at a birthday reception.

In an interview with the news magazine Spiegel, Scholz dismissed an account of events provided by the news magazine Focus Online.

Focus Online claimed that, during a heated discussion at the gathering last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had described Berlin's Christian Democrat (CDU) culture minister Joe Chialo as a "court jester."

The magazine's editor-in-chief was present at the party, for the politically connected entrepreneur Harald Christ. The article accused Social Democrat Scholz of racism in having directed the remark at Chialo,........

© Deutsche Welle