France 5 Drops Comedian After Controversy Over Appearance and Social Media Posts

A columnist on France Inter, Merwane Benlazar was making his television debut on January 31 in the "C à vous" program on France 5. His physical appearance on screen, in particular his long beard, his small cap and his loose sweater, sparked a wave of criticism on X. For some Internet users, this style refers to "Salafism". Others reposted old publications of the comedian on this social network, reports Libération.

Questioning the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, on this subject on Wednesday, Senator Nathalie Goulet (UDI) cited one of them: "A woman’s place is at home with her father. Fear your Lord," Merwane Benlazar had written in 2021. In response, Rachida Dati stated that "no remarks were reprehensible" in Merwane Benlazar’s column on France 5. The minister added that she had nothing to reproach the comedian for regarding his old posts on X. "Were there remarks made by this columnist that are scandalous? Yes. So following these remarks, France Télévisions has drawn the consequences: he will no longer be on screen," she concluded.

Rachida Dati did not fail to point out that "appearance, physique, clothing should not disqualify without any basis." The Mediawan group, producer of the C à vous program, assured that Merwan Belanzar "was a one-shot replacement, there is no need to come back or not." The comedian "was chosen by the production company [...] in the absence of his usual comedian (Bertrand Chameroy) and his replacement (Pierre-Antoine Damecour)," France Télévisions confirmed.

The column "did not give rise to any breach of its obligations on the part of France Télévisions," the group said. Several comedians, including Guillaume Meurice and Alex Vizorek, as well as left-wing political leaders, expressed their support for Merwane Benlazar. For Aymeric Caron, a deputy affiliated with LFI, the criticism of the comedian is tinged with "racism". "Before I was an Arab without a beard. I let the beard grow a little, because just being Arab in France, it’s too easy," the comedian had ironized in 2022, in a sketch played at the Montreux Comedy Festival in Switzerland.