It was a rather special greeting video, obviously, in the style of Élie Semoun, very active on social networks and no less squeaky than usual.
A 40 second face camera in which he appears with a contrite air.
"I would like to apologize after the Portuguese, black, Muslim and Jewish community, I slipped, I did not pay attention to what I wrote, I did not want to disrespect, but really I'm sorry, there my humor, it's gone too far, ”he breathes.
Smiling again, he launches facing the camera: “There, if I slip up in 2021, I am armored, I am secure, there is no problem, I have already apologized in advance.
There, hi PD!
"And to recover with his confused look:" Oh sorry, I apologize to the homosexual community.
"
Posted on January 2, this video was deleted on the 11th. He reposted it on Tuesday 12th and it was again deleted "because of hate speech or hate symbols", can we read in the message that Instagram automatically sent him .
And this Wednesday morning, the comedian no longer wanted to laugh and split on Twitter with a message in white on a black background.
pic.twitter.com/EdGwylJ4XA
- elie semoun (@SemounElie) January 13, 2021
“This is the first time, I who did sketches on homosexuals, the disabled, pedophiles, death, jihadists, the hospital, the elderly, the Jews, the Arabs, the Portuguese and what- I still, that one censures me for a video where precisely I make fun of the ridiculous and the pathetic to have to apologize for that ”, he writes.
“I no longer understand anything at this time of stuck up and psychorigides and morons who take everything at face value.
The tyranny of stupidity invades us.
I will continue to do what I have always done: unformatted humor, ”he concludes.
"I found it funny to reverse the system"
“Norman had made a video to apologize because he had been accused of racism against blacks, in a sketch, he says when we call him this Wednesday.
I was in solidarity, I find it so stupid to have to apologize for these things, when I know perfectly well that he is the complete opposite of a racist, so I made a video myself in which I apologize in advance for shocking certain communities, ”he explains.
“I thought it was funny to reverse the system.
But some were shocked to the point of reporting the post, which prompted Instagram to remove the video.
"Where I am shocked is that some do not take the time to think about it and take it at face value," he reacts.
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And to continue, in a weary voice.
“I know that human stupidity is my business, but now it's taking a pretty crazy turn.
But where do we go if we have to apologize for everything?
»And to recall how he could be, and still is very often,« completely out of the nails ».
“We had a poster where I was in the SS and Dieudonné as a member of the Ku Klux Klan, nobody said anything, it made everyone laugh, he recalls.
Today, it would cause an uproar ... "
"I could have had lots of lawsuits with my shows, in the
Classifieds
, but I never had one because people know very well that it is second degree, they know very well that I am not inherently malicious and racist, he continues.
Except that today people no longer take the time to think, they are immediately in the reaction.
This change, he notes, deplores it.
“We do not change anything by making lawsuits of intention,” he breathes.
"I will continue to publish what I want"
“Honestly, I didn't want to believe it, and when journalists ask me
can we laugh at everything?
I said yes, of course we can laugh at everything… Well, in fact, no… But I do not submit to social networks, I would continue to publish what I want and talk about what I want, affirms he.
It won't change my work, on stage, it's the only place where we are completely free.
"
Without wanting to play the victim - "I am not a martyr" - the comedian is alarmed by what is behind his "little case".
"Everyone has the right to speak, and necessarily people with narrow minds and beasts also have the right to speak, but we hear them a lot on the Internet and that gives them power, and after that gives an elected Trump, Bolsonaro , Brexit… ”
“I don't know if there's a human or if it's an algorithm behind it,” he continues.
I wrote to them, but they did not answer me.
We also tried to get a reaction and an explanation from the social network.
In vain so far.
