This is the case that has caused a lot of noise among our Belgian neighbors in recent days. The famous show The big cactus has in fact been at the heart of a huge controversy after a performance deemed offensive by two of their columnists. RTBF was even forced to apologize in the face of the media outpouring that followed.
The two comedians Damien Gillard and Cécile Giroud have indeed seen fit to parody an old song from the group Indochine. They thus re-visited the lyrics of the song 3rd gender. The result aroused the indignation of a large part of the viewers judging the remarks transphobic and malicious. Artists from Indochina also wanted to react.
Parody of the title 3rd sex: RTBF apologizes
The piece proposed by the two comedians contained unequivocal remarks on trans-identity. They also discussed the rumors around Brigitte Macron. Similar words recently led to two women being convicted. The comments made on RTBF were considered so inappropriate that the channel’s management apologized.
“RTBF expresses its most sincere regrets to all the people who were hit by this sequence. To provide responses commensurate with the situation, it is essential to conduct an in-depth dialogue with representatives of diversity associations. RTBF will communicate on the concrete measures when this work has been carried out. RTBF reaffirms its commitment to the fight against discrimination, which is and remains a cardinal value for our media”.
The reaction of the members of the Indochine group
From the side of the artists concerned, the reaction was not long in coming either. Through a press release, the members of Indochina expressed their incomprehension in the face of this performance considered lamentable. “Indochine discovered the distressing parody video of the RTBF show Le Grand Cactus and provides its full support to the LGTBQIA+ community.”
Nicolas Sirkis, the leader of the group, also spoke on this subject. “It’s both sad and it’s good that it’s relevant. The world is still racist and homophobic and youth brings hope on this”. A message which, we hope, will lead to appeasement. The team of large cactus also made it known that she joined the message of apology posted by RTBF.
