The sanction of Canal + has fallen.
Stéphane Guy is made redundant.
The channel has not forgiven the journalist from the sports department for having winked at the comedian Sébastien Thoen, himself thanked by the group after a sketch parodying "L'Heure des pros", hosted by Pascal Praud on CNews, the group's news channel.
“I want to salute my friend Sébastien Thoen who did not have the exit he deserves,” Stéphane Guy launched live on December 5 during the Montpellier-PSG football match.
These few words from the 50-year-old commentator, present on the channel for 23 years, earned him an immediate layoff and today a dismissal, as revealed by our colleagues from France Bleu.
Information that Le Parisien is able to confirm.
A climate of tension within the sports department
A particularly severe decision that comes in a climate of tension within the sports service of the encrypted channel, already marked by the dismissal of Sébastien Thoen, humorist and columnist of the Canal Sport Club, after his parody of L'Heure des pros.
A video, among others, only published on the Web on behalf of Winamax, one of the main advertisers of Canal +.
In the wake of his dismissal, an internal petition had circulated, defending the freedom of tone and expression, signed by 150 people - some of whom had wished to remain anonymous.
An initiative frowned upon by management according to several sources.
It is in this already tense context that Stéphane Guy intervened on the air on December 5.
"We must be wary of comedians because sometimes they say things to joke", he added to the microphone to support Sébastien Thoen and defend the second degree.
A humor obviously not at all to the taste of the managers of the chain who did not wish to comment on this affair.