For his return to France Inter on Sunday evening, Guillaume Meurice did not choose the path of backpedaling. The comedian in fact continued in the “excess”, which he claims, by attacking Hamas and the Israeli Prime Minister in his humorous post.
In the program “Le Grand Dimanche soir” on October 29, he suggested a “Netanyahu costume” for Halloween, “a sort of Nazi but without a foreskin.” His employer sanctioned him with a “warning”.
“We are going to get a good Médiamétrie score”
“This column, yeah, I have the impression that it is quite long awaited. We are going to get a good Médiamétrie score, in particular I am thinking of the HR Director of Radio France, who must be listening,” he said in the introduction. Claiming to have received a lot of support, Guillaume Meurice explained: “I was not able to respond to everyone. I was pretty busy. This is what I have in common with the West Bank, in fact.”
“I also read the constructive remarks following this story of Netanyahu, Nazi, foreskin. I was told: yeah, but Hamas, too, are Nazis without foreskins. Eh yes ! Yes, and I never said the opposite, I even wonder if there is not a problem with this absence of foreskin. It actually annoys them. Because it itches? I don’t know. Without doubt an aggravating factor,” he continued.
Charline Vanhoenacker defends her columnist
“So obviously I’m aware that I shocked a lot of people by comparing a fascist to a Nazi,” said the comedian. “For the sake of appeasement, I propose Netanyahu the Nobel Peace Prize (…) When he has built a parking lot in the Gaza Strip, there will be peace on this land,” he quipped.
The presenter of the show, Charline Vanhoenacker, introduced the defense of her columnist, who has received death threats. “Listen carefully to this silence. It’s the one that sets in after the threats and intimidation against the comedians,” she said to comment on the absence of the public usually present during the recording.
“If we are here this evening, it is because we have overcome our differences, and we have confidence in Guillaume,” she continued. “Reducing a joke to what the far right reads of it is a dangerous attempt at intent. Dangerous because some (…) draw a target on the clowns’ foreheads,” said the presenter.
Guillaume Meurice’s return coincided with the day of marches against anti-Semitism in Paris and other cities in France. Charline Vanhoenacker indicated on air that two France Inter reporters had to give up following the Paris demonstration for security reasons. These facts “are unacceptable. Freedom to inform must be defended against all odds,” added the director of France Inter, Adèle Van Reeth, on X.