Ohly is often cited to have said he cried tears of sadness when learning of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. In September 2010, he claimed this a false quote political opponents and op-ed writers (primarily Peter Wolodarski, political editor at Dagens Nyheter) keep attributing to him. When reporter Janne Josefsson of Uppdrag Granskning confronted him with an interview clip from 2004 where the statement was uttered, Ohly refused to watch it. Instead, he claimed to have been happy about the events at the time, mentioning that his best friend had sent him a joyous message from Prague in 1989 when the city was being liberated. He initially claimed to have received an SMS message from his friend, which was impossible, since the world's first text message was sent in 1992. He later claimed that he actually spoke to his friend by phone.