Case summary Guillaume Meurice, a French comedian and radio host, was fired from public broadcaster France Inter after making a joke about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Meurice described Netanyahu as “a kind of Nazi, but without a foreskin” in a joke that led to accusations of anti-Semitism and incitement to violence by the European Jewish organization EJA. The president of Radio France, Sibyle Veil, defends the dismissal and claims that freedom of expression has never been threatened at Radio France. Meurice has not apologized for the joke and claims he was just doing his job as a comedian and satirist. Following his dismissal, Meurice shared a farewell letter to France Inter on social media, and several of his colleagues in the program have also said they will quit in solidarity. Meurice has also written a book about the weeks after he first told the joke, when he received several complaints and death threats. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. The radio host and comedian (43) himself announced on Tuesday that he had been fired from France Inter for having committed a “serious mistake”. Then Guillaume Meurice had been suspended since the beginning of May. According to Le Monde, he was taken off the air after the comedian on 28 April repeated a joke from 29 October 2023. There he describes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “a kind of Nazi, but without a foreskin”. Serious misconduct Meurice told AFP he received a letter saying his contract was terminated early due to serious misconduct. Microphones with the logo of France Inter pictured in Paris in November 2015. Photo: Joël SAGET / AFP / NTB After Meurice first made the joke on air, he was accused of anti-Semitism and incitement to violence by the European Jewish organization EJA. The public prosecutor in Nanterre dismissed this case in April. It was when the comedian talked about what the prosecutor thought he was trying to say that he repeated the joke on air. What do you think about the case? The comedian went too far and deserved to be fired The comedian went too far, but almost got fired Such a joke must be within the context of humor Show result The boss defends dismissal The radio channel France Inter belongs to the public broadcaster Radio France. The president of Radio France, Sibyle Veil, has defended the dismissal. According to Le Monde, she wrote in a message to employees on Tuesday that Meurice was fired because of “his stubbornness and (…) his repeated disloyalty.” Veil claims at the same time that freedom of expression has never been threatened at Radio France. Strike The suspension of the comedian nevertheless led to a strike at France Inter on 12 May. There, the unions asked the management of Radio France and France Inter not to fire Meurice. According to Le Monde, they claimed that a dismissal would create “a serious precedent for freedom of expression”. According to Le Parisien, the head of France Inter, Adèle Van Reeth, assured her employees on Wednesday that political satire will remain part of the DNA of the radio channel. She spoke about the case on the TV program “Quotidien” on TMC according to La Libre. – It’s not about a joke, it’s about Guillaume Meurice’s attitude after the joke. Controversy flared up after that, and when a few weeks ago he decided to repeat his statements on air, she said there. – Unscrupulous souls On Wednesday, Guillaume Meurice shared a farewell “love letter” to France Inter on his social media, as X. – It makes me sad to leave you like this, ruled by such unscrupulous souls, he writes there, among other things. Guillaume Meurice took several posing press photos in March this year, possibly in connection with the launch of the book about the controversy. Photo: AFP He looks back on his time in the program “Le Grand Dimanche Soir” as one of the best. – A rare media space where we could mock those who oppress, kill, loot and destroy every day in the name of power and for personal ambitions. One hour a day was not much. It was clearly too much, he describes. Several of his colleagues in the program have also said they will quit in solidarity, according to Libération. Meurice and fellow comedian Aymeric Lompret have also stood up at the broadcaster RTL as a stunt and asked for a job after this. Wrote book Meurice has managed to write a book about the weeks after he told the joke for the first time, when he received several complaints and death threats. In “In the ear of the cyclone” (“Dans l’oreille du cyclone”), Meurice writes that the joke came in a column about possible costumes for Halloween. To La Libre, he claims that a Member of Parliament later called him a “little, anti-Semitic pest”, and that he reported around fifteen death threats. He denies that he told the joke to deliberately provoke. – It was more of a news joke, as I usually do, as a reaction to what is happening in Gaza, obviously, he told La libre when the book came out in March. – At that time there were already 10,000 dead. I don’t know how many deaths we have to wait to make jokes about Netanyahu, he adds. Has not apologized The comedian has claimed to RTS that both the far right and those in power exploited his joke. He has never regretted it. – I believe that I did not make any mistakes, and that I was only doing my job as a comedian, someone who caricatures and practices political satire, he told RTS at the beginning of April. According to Midi Libre, the first performance of the joke led Arcom, a sort of French version of the Media Authority, to issue a warning to Radio France. They write that this rarely happens with humorous features. Published 15.06.2024, at 09.01
ttn-69
French comedian fired after Nazi joke about Benjamin Netanyahu – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
