“I didn’t have this honesty”: Gad Elmaleh speaks frankly about accusations of plagiarism

It’s a case that marked Gad Elmaleh’s career. In 2017, the Youtube channel CopyComicbehind which an anonymous person hides, accuses several French comedians of plagiarism. As proof, the mysterious Internet user compares several sketches by American and French comedians, including Gad Elmaleh. The latter found himself under fire once again in 2019 when CopyComic shares new compromising extracts that may demonstrate the plagiarism of the jokes and acting of certain American stars such as Jerry Seinfield, George Carlin and Dana Carvey.

Gad Elmaleh opens up about accusations of plagiarism

At the time, Gad Elmaleh did not directly acknowledge the accusations, further entangling himself in controversy. Since then, the comedian has done his introspection and no longer hesitates to address the subject, in particular by turning the controversy into derision in his latest show: “It’s a nod that I’m making to this crisis that there was in 2017. I was accused of literally stealing jokes“, confides the actor in an interview with Laurent Delahousse which will be broadcast in full in 8:30 p.m. Sunday next January 5th.”

During this interview, Gad Elmaleh makes his mea culpa about his first reaction in response to the controversy: “I reacted badly, and I don’t think I would have reacted the same way today. It touched me so much, offended me, so offended me, that instead of, in fact, I said: “Yes. I’m so inspired by the Americans… Yes, it’s true that 20 years ago I took two or three jokes from the Americans, that’s not cool. But who cares, have you seen everything I did on the side? » I didn’t have this wisdom, this honesty and even this humility in real life.“

“I learned a lot“

“Because I had pride“, continues Gad Elmaleh, who puts things into perspective today. “I locked myself in there, it only made things worse. But I learned a lot. It’s funny, because when I was writing the new show, I reread every paragraph! It was a good experience for me, because I learned a lot about the profession even though I had been doing it for 25 years.”