A few years ago, Gad Elmaleh was accused of plagiarism. For several months, he was at the center of heated controversy. He was criticized in particular for having copied several sketches from other French, American or British counterparts. Since then, water has flowed under the bridges and the comedian made his mea culpa.
Questioned on the subject by Mouloud Achour in the show Clique this Monday June 3 on Canal+, the comedian returned to this period: “I experienced it during the media crisis over plagiarism. And I saw people who let me go“, he confided. And to continue: “At this given momentI didn’t have perspective that I have today. It was really just pride.”
“It was very violent and excessive”
At the time, Gad Elmaleh experienced these statements as an injustice: “It was very violent, excessive and disproportionate in relation to what is true, that is to say the inspirations that I claim. There was an element of anger, a desire to cause harm… No one wants to be portrayed in the press as someone who stole.” he revealed in the columns of Le Parisien.
The actor then went through a very difficult period: “I of course closed myself at that point my first reaction was, I don’t know if I was right or not, wanting to know where it came from. If you take a slap in the crowd, you don’t immediately say to yourself ‘that’s life’, but rather ‘who’s the asshole who’…”, he declared.
Gad Elmaleh’s regrets
Today, the actor regrets the way he handled the controversy at the time: “I should have assumed responsibility. And to think that I had happened to take jokes from Americans”, he explained in the columns of Télérama. And to continue: “Not because I was lacking inspiration – I proved that I had it – but because it was easy.”
After a stay of several years in the United States, Gad Elmaleh is back in France. His new show, Himself meets elsewhere a franc: “I went to the United States to surpass myself, to be lovedwhile I have everything here”, he concluded.
