– Comedian Guillaume Meurice fired by Radio France
The comedian was fired for his controversial comments about Netanyahu. Radio France cites disloyalty as the reason for the breakup. A situation that raises questions about freedom of expression.
Published today at 11:38 a.m.
France Inter comedian Guillaume Meurice was fired “for serious misconduct” by Radio France.
JOEL SAGET/AFP
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France Inter comedian Guillaume Meurice was fired “for serious misconduct” by Radio France after repeating his controversial remarks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he announced to AFP on Tuesday.
Public radio notified him by mail of the “early termination of (his) contract for serious misconduct,” he said, even though he had been suspended since the beginning of May. It’s the “end of a false suspense,” he said.
Reproaches from the president of Radio France
“I took this decision for repeated disloyalty towards the company,” explained the president of Radio France, Sibyle Veil, in an email sent to staff.
“Neither freedom of expression nor humor have ever been threatened at Radio France,” she assured, accusing Mr. Meurice of having “inflamed the controversy for months.”
Guillaume Meurice had an interview prior to possible dismissal on May 16 with human resources at Radio France, then went before the disciplinary committee on May 30, before the decision announced on Tuesday.
Netanyahu called a “Nazi but without a foreskin”
A figure on the show “Le grand Dimanche soir”, presented by Charline Vanhoenacker, Mr. Meurice was removed from the air on May 2, four days after having reiterated his controversial remarks about Mr. Netanyahu made for the first time at the end of October.
He had compared him to a “kind of Nazi but without a foreskin”, which had earned him accusations of anti-Semitism and a complaint, ultimately closed without further action.
These comments also earned Radio France a warning from Arcom, the audiovisual regulator.
A precedent for freedom of expression?
“By finally repeating his comments on the air in April, Guillaume Meurice ignored the warning he had received, the warning from Arcom and diverted the prosecutor’s decision” to close the complaint without further action, argued Mrs. Veil.
“He left us no other choice than to draw the consequences of his obstinacy and his repeated disloyalty,” she judged.
The suspension of Guillaume Meurice caused a strike at France Inter on Sunday May 12.
At the end of May, the Radio France unions and the France Inter editorial team asked their management to renounce “a decision to dismiss” the comedian, believing that this “would create a serious precedent” for “freedom of expression” .
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