French comedian who compared Netanyahu with Nazi from Uccle: PS criticizes « Political interference » by MR mayor (inland)

The French comedian Guillaume Meurice was fired in June last year at the French radio station France Inter after he had compared Netanyahu with a Nazi. Now he is not allowed to perform « for security reasons » in the Cultural Center of Uccle (CCU). According to the PS, according to the Uccle PS, Mayor Dilliès touches « the image of the municipality » and wakes up « an appearance of censorship ». « That intervention imports the conflict in the Middle East to the heart of the CCU. »

Meurice could be heard in the satirical program Le Grand Dimanche Soir On France Inter, a radio station from the Radio France broadcaster. A few days after he had repeated a comment about the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu – whom he had already made in October – he was taken out of the Ether in early May 2024. Meurice compared Prime Minister Netanyahu with « a kind of Nazi but without foreskin », which put him on allegations of anti -Semitism and a complaint. The complaint was not followed, but he was suspended pending a sanction or even dismissal.

The trade unions of Radio France and the editors of France Inter insisted on the management not to dismiss Meurice. Strikes followed that disturbed the programming. But it didn’t help: in June last year Meurice was dismissed « due to serious misconduct ». Now the comedian is at the head of the political program La Dernière On Radio Nova.

He would be in the 2024-2025 season Fresh l’infini (corn pas au-delà) (after the infinite (but not over)) Standing in the CCU, a show he wrote with astrophysicist Eric Lagadec about human stupidity. The Cultural Center had approached him itself, but now cancel the performance. The president of the Olivia Bodson board of directors cites « risks of disturbing public order » and the fear of a political « label » in the light of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reports the RTBF. According to the broadcaster, the director of CCU acted under pressure from the ship’s college and the mayor. However, Bodson denies any form of censorship.

« It is not a censorship, but it has the taste, vision and scent of censorship, » Brussels Member of Parliament John Pitseys (ECOLO) joins the PS. The MR « shouts Hees about the politicization of culture, but is the director of a cultural center to wink to starboard, » he says.

The file will be on the table in the coming weeks at the CCU board of directors.