Par Mathilde Seifert
Published on 03/12/2024 at 9:28 p.m., Updated on 03/12/2024 at 9:35 p.m.
Guillaume Meurice was the guest of “Quotidien” Screenshot
The comedian compared Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to a “kind of Nazi but without a foreskin”. And if this column aroused strong reactions, the radio columnist admitted in “Quotidien” that he had not been personally affected.
Four months have passed since the controversy generated by the joke of Guillaume Meurice on the Israeli president on France Inter. The comedian decided to tell this whole affair, from an inside point of view: his own. The work is entitled In the ear of the cyclone and comes out in bookstores on March 15 by Seuil editions.
Invited by Yann Barthès on the show “Quotidien” this Tuesday March 12, he agreed to return to the way in which he experienced the surge of hatred and pressure aroused by his column of October 29. “It interested me to see how the media-political machine works but it didn’t reach me personally. The closer people are to me, the more they know that I didn’t have a bad time. And the more people were not in my close spheres, the more they worried”, explains the person concerned. On the other hand, he readily admitted that one person had experienced the moment less well: Charline Vanhoenacker, presenter on France Inter.
Read alsoGuillaume Meurice will publish a book following his controversial joke regarding Benjamin Netanyahu
“I think Charline was affected more than me. She took a lot of pressure from management and I didn’t want to take that pressure”detailed the comedian in front of Yann Barthès while adding: “I said directly on the phone that I would not apologize. From the moment they saw that it was not negotiable, they dropped the matter, quite quickly. This was probably not the case with Charline who had to endure phone calls and meetings…”. And several months later, Guillaume Meurice still refuses to make amends. According to Guillaume Meurice, the only responsibility that a comedian must bear is that of taking responsibility for his words. “And I completely assume responsibility for them. »