Activist masculinist, protagonist of the controversial documentary ALPHASJoël McGuirk denounced his unforeseen withdrawal from the last plateau of Everyone is talking about it, Monday, at the microphone of Sophie Durocher, at QUB radio.
“I found it boring […] I wish I could back it up Julien [Bournival] A little. It was five to one [sur le plateau]», lamented Joël McGuirk, the co-host of the Lucid Podcast, a masculinist podcast that has been sowing controversy for nearly a year, notably by advocating conservative Christian values and promoting the “traditional” roles of men and women.
“We claim that it is the man who leads and the woman who is more submissive,” mentions, among others, Mr. McGuirk in the trailer for the documentary ALPHASby journalist Simon Coutu, broadcast this Monday on Télé-Québec.
At the heart of the controversy that animated social networks all weekend, Mr. McGuirk was to be one of the guests on the set of Everyone is talking about itSunday evening, alongside Mr. Coutu and Julien Bournival, an influencer sharing the same point of view who we will also see in ALPHAS.
As soon as Mr. McGuirk’s presence on the show was announced, social networks went up in flames. A petition set up by Anne-Marie Ménard, author and professional in sexology, requested her removal from the show. Faced with 25,000 signatures on the petition, the production of Everyone is talking about it made the decision to replace him with Francis Dupuis-Déri, professor of political science at UQAM, also featured in the documentary ALPHAS.
Mr. McGuirk learned the news Sunday morning, a few hours before the live broadcast, while he was at church with his partner.
“A duty” for Télé-Québec
For its part, Télé-Québec has chosen to continue broadcasting the documentary.
As a public broadcaster, the channel has “a duty” to present this type of documentary, believes Télé-Québec’s vice-president of content, Nadine Dufour.
“We are addressing a social subject which is current and which is burning, the discussion on this subject must take place […] These comments circulate a lot on social networks and remain in echo chambers, it is our role to bring this so that a very large audience is exposed to this reality,” she explains in an interview with The Journal. “This is far from being a glorification of the alpha male. It’s an analysis of the phenomenon.”
ALPHAS has caused a lot of reaction since the release of its trailer on October 28, especially because of Mr. McGuirk’s controversial and sexist comments. On the Télé-Québec Facebook page, where the trailer was viewed 234,000 times, several Internet users said they were unhappy that such a platform was being offered to this type of comment.
