Posted on 01/13/2004 3:28:47 AM PST by kattracks
Paris (CNSNews.com) - A comedian's skit portraying a Palestinian guerrilla wearing a Jewish Orthodox hat and giving the Nazi salute on state-owned French television has raised an outcry and is under investigation by a Paris prosecutor for racial defamation.
Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala, an often provocative French comedian, appeared on France 3 Television in December as a masked guerrilla wearing a Jewish Orthodox hat and called on "young people watching from suburban housing projects to convert like me ... and join the American-Zionist axis."
He then shouted "IsraeHeil" and made the Nazi salute.
France's housing projects are considered breeding grounds of Islamic extremism because they are home to many of the 5 million Muslims who live in the country.
The television station and Marc-Olivier Fogiel, the host of the program "On Ne Peut Pas Plaire a Tout le Monde" (You Can't Please Everybody), issued an apology to viewers the following week.
Valerie Manzic, a spokesperson for the station, said that Dieudonne had not been able to come to the show's rehearsal that afternoon and arrived too late to the live program to show his skit to the host.
"The host reacted during the live sketch by saying it was borderline," Manzic said. "The audience laughed and the discussion that followed was on politically controversial humor but it was clear that the host was uncomfortable."
A Paris prosecutor opened a preliminary police inquiry that could lead to the comedian's prosecution for "defamation of a racial character."
Yonathan Arfi, President of the Union of Jewish Students of France said that humorists are more at risk than other people for provoking these kinds of incidents.
"However," Arfi said, "Dieudonne has said that he does not wish to present excuses and retract what he said so it is no longer a mistake but a political position he is taking responsibility for."
"He is blowing on the embers of anti-Semitism because for us, Dieudonne's comments reinforce the anti-Semitism of all those who already have their matches ready in certain communities."
Some 600,000 Jews live in France, which has seen a rise of anti-Semitic incidents - many thought to be a result of pro-Palestinian sympathies towards the Middle East conflict.
A new controversy started the week after the show, when the host broadcast a selection of the thousands of cell phone text messages received during the program.
One of these messages said, "Would you laugh if there were sketches about the smell of blacks?"
Dieudonne, a French-born comedian whose father is from Cameroon, filed a complaint in turn against the show's producers, saying they had fabricated the racist message.
In a discussions and interviews, Dieudonne has defended his humor as a way of dealing with controversial subjects.
The CSA, the government agency responsible for broadcast regulations, asked the station for an explanation but refused to comment on the incident.
Dieudonne created controversy in the past when he said he thought Osama bin Laden had more charisma than George W. Bush.
Arfi said such controversial comments are a result of an increased freedom of expression in France. "We are organizing a show in March featuring comics and artists against racism to try to isolate and condemn Dieudonne and his comments."
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=========== French missiles FIRST given to Iraq to be USED Against US and Coalition Heroes =========
French missiles found by the Poles, and to protect France, blown up.
Froggies said they did not say "2003". LOL. Decide for yourself.
Iraqi missiles given to, and now located in, Syria:
Anyway, I'm sure that there are a lot more important things for them to be worrying about, than what some stupid comic did.
Come on, folks! It was a JOKE! ... Not a very good joke; but a joke, nonetheless. The audience laughed. That's the idea of a joke.
It seems to me that, for the most part, Jews have always been too thin skinned, when it comes to jokes. Most people just let jokes about them roll off their backs. Look at blonds, for instance. People tell jokes about blonds all the time and they don't complain. Of course, they don't understand the jokes either. So instead, consider Pollocks ... No ... Wait ... That's not a good example, either. Oh well, you get the idea.
It was a JOKE!
Free speech leads to more civil discourse in the same way that lowering tax rates increases tax revenue: You don't expect it to happen, but there it is.
Try Preparation H or Tucks Medicated Pads when these flare up.
Here's an article from the French version of Yahoo!. Let me translate relevant portions via Babelfish and my own tweaking:
"Obviously, I am not anti-semite. Obviously, I fight against any form of communatarianism ", he declared, stressing that he did not have "a religion" and that he attacked "any form of extremism". He acted in a "sketch", of a "intervention in a humorous matter", he added.
"I was already attacked for anti-semitism by religious associations of the extreme right and I was released", added the actor in reference to a lawsuit brought by the central Consistory, Licra and the Union of the Jewish students of France.
Invited Tuesday on the broadcast "You Can't Please Everybody" to make a humorous "obituary" of Jamel Debbouze, Dieudonné appeared with a hood, a jacket of lattice, capped with the curly hair and the black hat characteristic of the orthodox Jews.
In a short article, Le Monde criticized the "skids" of Dieudonné. "For me, Le Monde is a newspaper which defends systematically the Zionist position", Dieudonné retorted.
Lousy behavior to be sure (and indicative of French national character) but thank G_d we don't have insane laws like this, (at least not yet)
Comparing Jews to Nazis is just good fun and anyone who disagrees is a puppet of the Zionists.
Yep. He's just an anti-Zionist, not anti-semitic.
What a joke he is. Doo doo all right.
Being a joke yourself, this is something you can claim expertise on.
Thanks for the reply. I am amazed at your English proficiency. I tried to translate the French myself, but it's rusty.
My guess is that he's trying to find a niche. It's easy to bash FN, but now I guess he has to kick it up a notch.
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