The deputy LFI had announced it and it is now done. Louis Boyard filed this Wednesday in Paris a complaint with civil action “for public insult” against the host Cyril Hanouna, accusing him of having “insulted him live for having criticized the owner of his channel” Vincent Bolloré.
In this complaint, Louis Boyard targets the offense of “public insult by a means of communication to the public towards an elected member of Parliament”, punishable by a fine of 12,000 euros. He targets five statements by Cyril Hanouna targeting him during the program “Touche pas à mon poste” on C8 on November 10: “You moron”; “You’re a jerk”; “Tocard goes”; “Jester goes”; “You are a piece of shit”.
“Aggressive” and “outrageous” terms
The complaint targets Cyril Hanouna as the main author, but also Maxime Saada, chairman of the management board of Canal Plus holding C8, for the rebroadcast of the remarks on the channel’s website.
According to the deputy’s complaint, “the terms used by Cyril Hanouna take on such an aggressive and outrageous character, in total decorrelation and disproportion to the initial debate, that they clearly cannot constitute simple derogatory or pejorative qualifiers which fall under a free right of criticism covered by freedom of expression”.
A “direct insult to the nation”
She insists on the fact that these insults were aimed, an aggravating circumstance, at Louis Boyard as a deputy, and believes that these remarks “led to a surge of hatred on social networks” and led to “lowering the individual but also his function “.
“The public insult because of the parliamentary mandate is a direct insult to the nation and to the Republic which must be sanctioned by the courts. It is time to remind these limits to this type of media”, commented Me Arié Alimi who defends Louis Boyard with Me Jade Dousselin. Louis Boyard but also Cyril Hanouna had each announced legal proceedings targeting the other after this November 10 broadcast.
Cyril Hanouna’s “20-year-old friend”
The live exchanges between Cyril Hanouna and Louis Boyard, former columnist for “Touche Pas à mon poste” (TPMP), had degenerated when the second accused the “five richest people” in France of “impoverishing Africa” , quoting in particular Vincent Bolloré, owner of the Canal + group and “friend of 20 years” of Cyril Hanouna.
“You’re a shit” had retorted the host of the hit show – with 1.8 million viewers on average and peaks at more than 2 million – after calling the deputy “idiot”, “jester” and “tocard”. The following Monday, Cyril Hanouna and his columnists had again attacked the young elected official, and the presenter had “regretted the insulting remarks” he may have had, without apologizing.