Appalled.
Stunned.
The day after Brahim Bouhlel's sentencing to eight months in prison in Morocco following a video posted on social networks, the entourage of the actor in the series “Validated” was still in shock on Thursday.
All concede it.
The joke was in very bad taste.
“Null”, “shocking”, this video shot in Marrakech, in which the 25-year-old comedian accompanied by Franco-Moroccan influencer Zbarbooking and French actor Hedi Bouchenafa film themselves alongside three Moroccan children while uttering insults on them and their mothers, is unanimously criticized.
But many consider the sentence "disproportionate".
Read alsoFive minutes to understand the Brahim Bouhlel affair, French humorist in prison in Morocco
"This story is" Midnight Express "
(Editor's note: film in which a tourist, carrying drugs, lives through prison hell in Turkey)
", blows a relative, also an actor, who wishes to remain anonymous , given the very sensitive nature of the case.
“It's a big mistake, he forgot that he was not in France and that he could not say everything.
But the country of the Marrakech laughter festival must be able to tolerate slippages, ”said Karim Kachour, manager of the Paname Art Café, the temple of Parisian stand-up, who took Brahim Bouhlel under his wing when he started.
VIDEO.
Outrage in Morocco after the broadcast of a "parody" video of actor Brahim Bouhlel
"Even his parents were threatened"
Since the publication, at the beginning of April, of the video parodying (very) awkwardly a sensationalist TV report, the controversy has continued to swell.
In Morocco, the actions of the trio were shocking.
On social networks, the comedian finds himself inundated with virulent messages.
The Adidas brand has also distanced itself, committing to "reconsider its collaboration with him".
Visibly overwhelmed, the actor has apologized several times, in videos where he appears, serious, as stunned.
In pre-trial detention for two weeks, he and Zbarbooking were prosecuted for "broadcasting a video of a person without their consent" and "hijacking a minor".
As for Hedi Bouchenafa, the third protagonist, he returned to France, but would be targeted by an international arrest warrant.
The career of the comedian from the Paris region, under the spotlight since the success of the Canal + series, thus comes to a halt.
"He has four or five films in the pipeline, but he's no longer going to work," blows a comedian friend, who wishes to remain anonymous.
It is precisely for a shoot, that of the next film by Mohamed Hamidi ("The Cow") with Kad Merad, that Brahim Bouhlel is currently in Morocco.
"He is doing very badly," this friend confides to us, referring to the conditions of detention.
His sister was able to go there.
It's very complicated for everyone.
This controversy has taken on hallucinating proportions.
Even her parents were threatened and received anonymous calls.
"
Spotted by Franck Gastambide
Brahim Bouhlel grew up in Chelles, in Seine-et-Marne, in a family without history.
His father is Algerian, his mother Tunisian.
His fate changes the day he crosses paths with director Franck Gastambide.
In his series "Validated", a dive into the world of rap, the young man with the touching black eyes embodies one of the main characters: Brahim says "Chinese", the pseudo-cousin of Clément, hero played by rapper Hatik.
Omnipresent in the image in season 1, he is also one of the main characters of season 2, already shot between Paris and Marseille and which was supposed to arrive on Canal + before the summer.
To read also "Validated": behind the scenes of the soundtrack of the series on rap
Franck Gastambide, now a friend, made a real bet by choosing this young stranger who first illustrated himself in videos on Instagram.
"For these three actors who are in the series, we shouldn't screw up," Franck Gastambide told us, when commenting on the success of the first season.
Usually, I work with my bunch of friends and these are guys that I don't know, so we took a long time choosing them.
"For the director of" Taxi 5 ", the stakes are enormous.
First series on French rap, he knows he is expected at the turn.
And the role of Brahim Bouhel, that of the good “good dough” friend, is central.
A little name in the middle of the stand-up
Gastambide spotted him by chance, in a video posted on Instagram by comedian Hakim Jemili. "He asked Hakim, '
Who is the little big one with glasses? Send it to me,
”“ Brahim Bouhlel told us in March, recounting his casting. At the age of 24, he dreams of this opportunity, he who has never been in front of the camera, used to the screen of his smartphone where he tests his humor in humorous mini-videos. Finally, he will pass the five rounds of the casting. Believing the case lost, he even breaks the chip on his phone and changes his number, in anger. But it is ultimately Hatik who will tell him that he has been taken. He then calls Gastambide to verify. "And there, we were like crazy, we had been looking for him everywhere for three weeks," laughed the creator of the series.
Before this role, Brahim Bouhlel had made a name for himself in the stand-up scene. In 2014, he won the Chelles Battle Comedy, a springboard for humor in his city. A passion that he will put aside for a while to resume his studies in electrical engineering license. Then he comes to try his luck on the Parisian stand-up sets, such as the open stage of the Paname Art Café. “We immediately understood that he was gifted,” recalls Karim Kachour. He is very funny, very good actor, especially to imitate the different accents. For me, he's a new generation artist, a jack of all trades. "
“This case will change things for comedians, warns a professional in the field. Some people think you can have fun with anything, all the time. This kind of story shows that no, it is no longer playable, that we have to be careful, that the word has a weight. And that may be a good thing. "