Paris, France | AFP | Tuesday 11/06/2024 – Suspended for the reason that starting of Might, comic Guillaume Meurice was lastly fired by Radio France, which accused him of “repeated disloyalty” for having reiterated his controversial remarks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It is the “finish of a false suspense”, he advised AFP, after public radio had notified him by mail of the “early termination of (his) contract for severe misconduct”.
“This victory is above all yours!”, he posted on proper, in addition to to the rabbi and author Delphine Horvilleur.
“I took this resolution for repeated disloyalty in the direction of the corporate,” defined the president of Radio France, Sibyle Veil, in an e mail despatched to employees.
“Neither freedom of expression nor humor have ever been threatened at Radio France,” she assured, accusing Mr. Meurice of getting “infected the controversy for months.”
The comic with a really left-wing positioning had an interview on Might 16 previous to a attainable dismissal with the human sources of Radio France, then went earlier than the disciplinary committee on Might 30, earlier than the choice introduced on Tuesday.
A determine on the present “Le grand Dimanche soir”, offered by Charline Vanhoenacker, Mr. Meurice was faraway from the air on Might 2, 4 days after having reiterated his controversial remarks about Mr. Netanyahu made for the primary time on the finish of October.
He in contrast him to a “type of Nazi however with out a foreskin”, which triggered accusations of anti-Semitism and a grievance, finally closed with out additional motion.
These feedback additionally earned Radio France a warning from Arcom, the audiovisual regulator.
“By lastly repeating his feedback on the air in April, Guillaume Meurice ignored the warning he had acquired, the warning from Arcom and diverted the prosecutor’s resolution” to shut the grievance with out additional motion, argued Ms. Veil.
“He left us no different alternative than to attract the results of his obstinacy and his repeated disloyalty,” she judged.
– Helps on the left –
The suspension of Guillaume Meurice triggered a strike at France Inter on Sunday Might 12.
On the finish of Might, the Radio France unions and the France Inter editorial group requested their administration to resign “a call to dismiss” the comic, believing that this is able to “create a severe precedent” for “freedom of expression” .
An argument rejected by Ms. Veil.
“A number of columnists have (…) freely expressed on our airwaves their assist for Guillaume Meurice. A number of days in the past, considered one of them in contrast me to Donald Trump and imagined that my choices made me use a vibrator. After we hear this, we will say that freedom of expression has little to worry,” she argued in her inner message.
Within the wake of this announcement, one other comic from “Grand Dimanche Soir”, Aymeric Lompret, introduced that he was leaving the present as an indication of assist for his colleague. “Extra Guillaume = extra Aymeric,” he wrote on the social community X.
For its half, the South union, to which Mr. Meurice belongs, noticed on this dismissal a “severe mistake by Sibyle Veil”, earlier than the anticipated legislative elections of June 30 and July 7 the place the Nationwide Rally (RN) presents itself within the place of power.
“Whereas the intense proper is on the gates of energy, (…) your resolution significantly weakens our whole firm,” Sud wrote in a press launch calling on Ms. Veil.
“First measure of the Fashionable Entrance: the reinstatement of Guillaume Meurice to France Inter,” assured the rebellious deputy François Ruffin on X, in reference to the gathering deliberate by the left for the legislative elections.
Three days after the announcement of his dismissal, Guillaume Meurice should give his subsequent present Friday night on the stage of the Cirque d’hiver in Paris, the day of his forty third birthday.
