Meurice affair: the management of France Inter maintains its “grievances” in the disciplinary committee

Guillaume Meurice sera fixé sur son sort au plus tôt le 4 juin, au plus tard le 16. MAXPPP – Nicolas Kovarik

Comedian Guillaume Meurice should know by June 16 the fate that Radio France has in store for him, after a joke on the Israeli Prime Minister last November, repeated at the end of April. A disciplinary committee heard it again this Thursday. He could be fired.

France Inter has not yet decided but the tension has not dropped one iota. At the end of a disciplinary committee this Thursday, the human resources department of France Inter would have "maintained its grievances" against his employee, laid off since the beginning of May, reports Le Parisien. "During a little more than two hours of discussion, she once again criticized her comedian for his comments, accusing him of having lacked loyalty to his company and sought to exploit the antenna for political purposes. personal", underlines the newspaper.

Guillaume Meurice should know his fate no earlier than June 4, and no later than June 16. It remains suspended from the antenna.

Aujourd’hui est une belle journée pour savoir si faire des blagues sur un criminel de guerre génocidaire qui massacre des enfants dans des camps de réfugiés vaut un licenciement pour faute grave. ☀️ pic.twitter.com/BtLy5eT4p2

— Guillaume Meurice (@GMeurice) May 30, 2024

After a disciplinary interview on May 16, Guillaume Meurice was summoned to explain himself once again, this Thursday. "Present at this disciplinary committee were the human resources department of Radio France, Guillaume Meurice and his companion from the Sud union, as well as other staff representatives from the FO, CFDT, Unsa and CGT organizations", indicates Le Parisien.

On October 29, 2023, on the airwaves of France Inter, in the show "Le grand Dimanche soir", the comedian suggested a &quot ;disguise" by Benjamin Netanyahu, "kind of a Nazi but without a foreskin". These remarks sparked heated controversy, in the context of the war between Israel and Hamas.

"Wow, he's going really hard"

In November, however, its director, Adèle Van Reeth, estimated that’"you don't fire a comedian for a new joke", in an interview with Le Parisien. "I heard this joke and I thought "Wow, he's going very strong". I told myself that there was going to be reactions from the public. It ignited 24 hours later."  Adèle Van Reeth assured at the time: "He knows that I support him."

This was without taking into account the general excitement and, Guillaume Meurice implied, the role played by Sybile Veil, the CEO of the radio. And the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom) sent a warning to Radio France in November for this sketch. 

Warning from Arcom

"While reaffirming the importance of protecting the freedom of expression of comedians, (l’Arcom) considered that the chronicle in question, whose risks of repercussions on the cohesion of our society could not be ignored, particularly in a context marked by the resurgence of acts of an anti-Semitic nature, undermined the proper exercise by Radio France of its missions and the relationship of trust that it must maintain with all of its listeners", estimated the Regulatory Authority. She "warned the publishing company and called on it to be extremely vigilant with regard to the particularly sensitive situation linked to the conflict in the Middle East".

"The prosecutor, he said It's good"

Guillaume Meurice was suspended from the air and we thought that the tragicomic scenario would end there. This was without counting the comedian's return to the air on Sunday, April 28, with a court decision which vindicated him. "There are things we can say. For example, if I say "Netanyahu(the Israeli Prime Minister, Editor's note) is a kind of Nazi but without a foreskin, that's good. The prosecutor, he said It's good", launched the columnist on France Inter, in reference to the dismissal of a complaint against him last’ ;accusing of anti-Semitism.

Guillaume Meurice himself announced in the week following, on which may go as far as dismissal". The sanction, ultimately, did not fall at the beginning of May. We had to wait for the meeting of the disciplinary committee this Thursday. The ultimate decision is still postponed.

A petition to support him

On May 2, a petition was launched on change.org (at the end of May it had 64,200 signatures) to support the comedian: "This situation raises important questions about freedom of expression in France. Freedom of expression is a fundamental value of our democracy, protected by Article 11 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789. We, the listeners and listeners, citizens, journalists, trade unionists, political leaders, let us mobilize against the dismissal of Guillaume Meurice."