“Mr. Michel Boujenah, you are not welcome in Alès”: a storm of protest against the comedian's visit to the Cratère

A leaflet denouncing the arrival of Michel Boujenah is currently circulating in Alès. MIDI LIBRE – CHARLES LEDUC

A leaflet denouncing the arrival of Michel Boujenah is currently circulating in Alès. MIDI LIBRE – CHARLES LEDUC

Un tract dénonçant la venue de Michel Boujenah circule actuellement dans Alès. MIDI LIBRE – CHARLES LEDUC

Des tracts circulent dans la capitale des Cévennes et dénoncent la venue de l’artiste à Alès, vendredi 27 septembre, pour présenter son spectacle "Adieu les magnifiques". Ses propos tenus après l'attaque du Hamas, en Israël, sont mis en cause.

In front of the sub-prefecture, on the promotional poster for the show “Adieu les magnifiques” that comedian Michel Boujenah will perform on the stage of the Cratère, this Friday, at 8:30 p.m., there remains stuck, this Sunday, September 22, early in the afternoon, the front and back of a leaflet entitled “Mr. Michel Boujenah, you are not welcome in Alès”. Signed by the Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS) Alès-Cévennes, this text takes up and denounces statements that the artist made after the Hamas attacks that occurred in Israel on October 7, 2023, particularly towards the Gazans (to be read in the photos above).

What will happen on the evening of the one-man show ?

Contacted, Salima Mellah, president of the AFPS Alès-Cévennes is "not surprise" that this "leaflet distributed" is found stuck on a poster of the Cratère. Other leaflets were also given to the public, on September 20, on the forecourt of the Scène nationale, before the Aldebert concert. And on the evening of Michel Boujenah's one-man show, on September 27, “there is a strong chance that we will hand out leaflets in front of the Crater”, announces the president.

The president of the AFPS of Alès-Cévennes explains

Returning to the content of the text distributed in Alès, Salima Mellah recalls that ’ “we have repeated all of Michel Boujenah's remarks. It's quite shocking. He justifies the massacres by saying that there is nothing worse than Hamas. He makes an analogy with what happened during the Nazi period.” For the president, "it is not a bad thing to tell people who do not know him what this person looks like".

Statements by the director of the Cratère

Before the Aldebert concert, Olivier Lataste, the director of the Cratère, who appears "appalled by what is happening in Gaza", was in contact with the AFPS. Today, he is stalling, and above all, he is not adding fuel to the fire. “Everyone has their own opinion, but I think that if he made virulent remarks, it was a few days after the Hamas attack. Afterwards, he said “We're stopping everything””, he declared. “He even added, “We have so much in common”. In his shows, he talks about that, about how we can make peace…”

“I'm not worried; it's going to be fine", Olivier Lataste said

Let's not talk about anti-Semitism to Salima Mellah. This tract, “it's not anti-Semitism at all", she insists. She also adds that on September 27, while the famous comedian and humorist will perform in Alès, “Michel Benizri, who is a Moroccan Jew, has been invited, while Michel Boujenah is a Tunisian Jew”. Michel Benizri will indeed host, at 8 p.m., in the Biosphéra room in Cendras, a gesticulated conference entitled “Me, French-Jewish-Arab, how I resigned from Zionism”. And at the Cratère, during this time”? “I am not worried” it's going to be fine”, Olivier Lataste assures serenely, for his part.

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