“It's a racial profiling offence”: Cyril Hanouna accuses Arcom of “harassment”, six months before the planned withdrawal of the C8 channel

Host Cyril Hanouna accused the audiovisual regulator, Arcom, of “harassment”. MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

Host Cyril Hanouna accused the audiovisual regulator, Arcom, of “harassment” during his television return on Monday, September 2, 2024, six months before the scheduled withdrawal of the C8 channel.

During the season premiere of "Touche pas à mon poste", Cyril Hanouna, 49, launched into a tirade against the regulator, which decided that C8 should leave TNT next year.

“TPMP will continue until February, the end of February. (…) the C8 channel will make numerous appeals so that the decision is not taken”, explained the host, recalling that it had not been notified to the Canal+ group.

“Other choices”

“We will have other choices than TNT, just after February. Without Arcom, no more problems, my audience, do you think we love each other?", he had previously sung in a parody sequence. However, he did not specify what these choices were.

C8 belongs to a group that will keep six other TNT frequencies: Canal+, CNews, CStar and three thematic channels (Canal+ Sport, Canal+ Cinémas and Planète+).

In July 2024, Arcom decided not to renew the frequency of C8 after February 28, which has accumulated 7.6 million euros in fines over eight years for the excesses of its headliner.

“Arcom can persecute us, I don't care if the public loves me”, Cyril Hanouna, made up as Celine Dion, sang on air to the tune of “The Hymn to l'amour", a standard by Edith Piaf performed at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. He then joined the set on a motorbike live, under the eyes of sports journalist Nelson Monfort, to light a cauldron.

❤️🤣🎤 Salim Dion (@Cyrilhanouna) vous interprète « L’hymne à l’Arcom » dans #TPMP sur @C8TV ! pic.twitter.com/ggCqa74l8x

— TPMP (@TPMP) September 2, 2024

“I can bounce back”

The host was arriving from the studios of Europe 1, where he continues to present “On marche sur la tête” (4 p.m.-6 p.m.) every day, tested during the legislative campaign.

To end “TPMP”, Cyril Hanouna launched into a long pro domo plea, in a more serious tone. “It's a racial profiling offense, for me, and a huge attack on freedom of expression”, he attacked. “They deleted an entire channel because there was a host they didn't like”.

He takes legal action

“For several years I have been the subject of repeated harassment” and “I have decided to take legal action”, he announced solemnly.“I consider myself, and know that we already have a 35-page file, harassed by the Arcom organization, which behind generates hate messages on social networks”.

“This is extremely serious. They can't stop someone from working and, today, Arcom is stopping me from working", he said.

"My freedom of speech"

"Expanding, that's more than 400 people who risk finding themselves unemployed", said the host, who recalled that C8 employed 300 people and its production company H2O around a hundred. “Me, I will be able to bounce back, my freedom of speech will be elsewhere, on the networks”.

“What I did, there you go, I was going to say some stupid things live, yes, but all the good that this show did compared to 0.01%… I'm going to say: what happened ? We made a prank, yes, we regret it (…) We had a fight with a member of parliament”, he conceded, to recall the facts that caused the strongest fines.

C8 and NRJ12, another channel that did not obtain a renewal of its frequency, must give way to OFTV (Ouest France group) and RéelsTV.