The sentence, pronounced after a few minutes of broadcast, seems very innocuous. It is not in view of the storms which have shaken the “Charline gang” on France Inter in recent weeks. “We are a team and we remain so. » After a week off due to election night last weekend, Charline Vanhoenacker resumed her place at the microphone of “Big Sunday evening”, this June 16.
The show promised to be special, even explosive. The first since the dismissal pronounced by Radio France against the show’s star columnist, the comedian Guillaume Meurice, ousted for “repeated disloyalty” after having reiterated on the air his controversial joke about Benyamin Netanyahu, compared to ” a kind of Nazi without a foreskin.”
“Another resignation and the guy from the canteen takes a microphone”
To support their colleague who was fired after twelve years of presence on the air, Aymeric Lompret, a rising figure in the program, but also the singer GiedRé and Thomas VDB, another “historic” pillar of the band, all announced this week leave the public station. So, what could this issue look like, the penultimate of a season which will have been marked by more than seven months of tensions around this Meurice affair?
Answer: the public attended an (almost) normal edition. At least in its form since after several (very) special broadcasts during which the main thread of “Big Sunday evening” had been largely reworked due to the suspension of its columnist, the usual sections have made their return. With a change of casting imposed by successive departures. “Another resignation and the guy from the canteen, he takes a microphone,” quipped the young comedian Rodrigue, guest of the weekly springboard.
In her introductory post, unlike previous weeks, Charline Vanhoenacker initially barely mentioned the fate reserved for her friend or the danger that hangs over the freedom of expression of comedians, preferring to place her satirical meeting under the seal of very charged political news since the dissolution. “Tonight, I hope the laughter will drown out the sound of the boots,” she said. In the sights of the Belgian presenter and her entire team, whose commitments to the left make no secret: the now possible arrival in power of the extreme right.
Ironically about “the poker move with pulled grenades” attempted by the President of the Republic, Charline Vanhoenacker started with jokes targeting the tenant of the Élysée. ” He says It’s me or chaos. Even Jesus, at the time, played it more modest. » Then, it was the turn of the supporters of the RN to bear the brunt of the comedian’s jokes, who took the opportunity to slip in an allusion to the Meurice affair. “This week, Cyril Hanouna invited all the cream of xenophobes (…). At least he cannot be accused of disloyalty towards the extreme right. » “Disloyalty”, the official reason brandished by the management of Radio France to justify the departure of the “investigative comedy” whose “ghost” hovered over the studio this Sunday evening.
“We of course think very strongly of Guillaume Meurice and those who left”
“Despite the pitfalls, we will stay in your company for two hours,” continued the host. We of course think very strongly of Guillaume Meurice, we salute those who left: believe me, they would have preferred to be there this evening but they preferred to remain faithful to their commitment. » Throughout the program, like a second red thread parallel to that of the dissolution, there were these repeated messages of love from those who stay towards those who leave.
As during this sequence where the remaining columnists, as a joke, refused to speak “out of solidarity with Djubaka, who stands in solidarity with Laurence, who stands in solidarity with Aymeric, who stands in solidarity with Guillaume”. And as those who remain are fewer and fewer, it has been necessary to modify the role of each person a little. And make room for a new voice, Lou Trotignon.
Less rebellious than the previous ones, the show was still an opportunity to scratch the management on several occasions. Example with this dig addressed by Rodrigue to Adèle Van Reeth, boss of France Inter, who provided after-sales service for the dismissal of Meurice in “Quotidien”, on TMC. “She said there: at France Inter, we have a deep sense of family. Um… For the next Sunday meal, don’t make too many potatoes, Adèle, there will be a mess…”
And then, a little before 7:30 p.m., at the usual time when Guillaume Meurice offered his funny sidewalk microphones, the presenter drove the point home. “At this time, normally, it’s the Meurice moment and I didn’t think I would say that one day on the air, but it’s a moment that is now prohibited,” she regrets, before broadcasting for a few seconds old punchlines from Guillaume Meurice in a provocative outburst towards his employers.
“There will be a before and an after of this sanction”, Charline Vanhoenacker reacted last Thursday before specifying that, from now on, each broadcast would be a “crash test” where she would test the limits of “loyal irreverence”. Walking on a ridge line, the Belgian seems not to know what her future will hold. Will it be on the air at the start of the school year for a new season? Nothing is less certain, as she indicated by encouraging the public to quickly register for next week’s weekly. “Maybe the last one,” she slipped.
For Doully, it’s over this Sunday evening. The comedian indicated at the end, after his appearance, that it was “(his) last column”. “I will miss my family terribly, it’s heartbreaking,” she reacted, crying, causing Charline Vanhoenacker to cry.