Comedian Gad Elmaleh Admits to Copying American Jokes in Career-Shifting Confession

"It’s stupid, but at the time of the plagiarism, Instagram and Youtube didn’t exist. I should have assumed that I had sometimes taken jokes from Americans. [...] Not because I was out of inspiration - I’ve proven that I have it - but out of convenience," regrets Gad Elmaleh in an interview with Télérama. He will continue: "Like those who tell the judges ’I thought it wouldn’t be noticed’". The 52-year-old comedian has lived through this period of his life badly. "Several of us were singled out for plagiarism. But I’m the only one who took so much. Locked in my pride, I got into the game, I justified myself. I couldn’t sleep at night. It wasn’t the accusation that hurt me, but the fear that people would no longer love me," he concluded.

In 2019, CopyComic, a "mysterious internet user" had made accusations of plagiarism against French comedians including Gad Elmaleh. In videos posted on YouTube, he accused them of having plagiarized American stand-up comedians due to the similarities between their sketches and older ones by the latter. Other French comedians like Malik Bentalha and Thomas Nigjol had also been denounced by this internet user.