Angoulême: anger is "legitimate" against Bastien Vivès, according to the Minister of Culture

The Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak said, Thursday in Angoulême, to find "legitimate" the anger against the comic book author Bastien Vivès, accused of promoting child pornography in certain works and of having made misogynistic remarks.

"There was a legitimate reaction against an attitude that was unacceptable," the minister told the press, who was visiting the International Comics Festival.

An exhibition where Bastien Vivès was preparing to display unpublished drawings was to be held there.

But in mid-December, while comic book authors and associations fighting against child pornography proclaimed their hostility to this tribute, the management reluctantly canceled this exhibition.

“He took extremely serious matters lightly”

“Bastien Vivès, as a man, nevertheless made unacceptable remarks,” underlined Ms. Abdul Malak.

“He took extremely serious matters lightly.

He had insulting remarks on social networks which are in themselves very reprehensible ”.

“It is normal, somewhere, that these remarks he made caused this outcry, even years later when they were brought out.

Because they are unacceptable, he recognized it himself,” insisted the minister.

But she reiterated that she would have preferred to see the exhibition open as planned.

A preliminary investigation opened

“The difficulty is that it got mixed up with an exhibition that no one had seen (…) We'll never know what was in there.

I find it regrettable that the subjects are mixed, ”she explained.

“Things happened at such a rapid pace that this debate, ultimately, could not be held.

But he continues in society, ”she welcomed.

“I would have been curious to see what other drawings he was going to present in a setting like the 50th anniversary of the Angoulême Festival.

We won't know.

But he still had an attitude that didn't make it easy,” she concluded.

At the beginning of January, a preliminary investigation for the dissemination of child pornography images was opened against Bastien Vivès and two publishing houses that published his works mixing minors and pornography, Glénat and Les Requins Marteaux.