Did the Minister of Culture premeditate her intervention during the Molières ceremony on Monday evening? The majority and several of his government colleagues praised the “rightness” of his remarks and his “political courage” following his intervention. She would have even scored points with the Élysée and Matignon while rumors of reshuffles are multiplying. After being arrested by two activists from the CGT-Spectacle, Rima Abul Malak had responded tit for tat, arousing applause from part of the room.
But the sequence just as quickly aroused the irony of his opponents. “What a coincidence: a micro-hand which falls into the hands of the minister a few seconds after being arrested”, pretended to wonder the Parisian LFI deputy Aymeric Caron on Twitter. On Wednesday, Cyril Hanouna abandoned irony to prefer the charge in good and due form, saying that this stunt was in fact a set-up. The host of C8 has been in open conflict for several weeks with Rima Abdul Malak who sharply criticized the content of his TPMP program. The presenter finds it disturbing that a microphone was brought to the minister who was seated in the room. He is also surprised that she knows the exact date of the quote from Gérard Philipe declaimed by the activists on stage – “actors are not dogs”.
The star host of the Bolloré group says he is above all convinced that the minister would have had access to the text of the two CGT activists, Toufan Manoutcheri and Lucie Astiert. According to him, the text of the trade unionists, broadcast on the teleprompter therefore provided to the technical team in advance, would have been communicated to Rima Abdul Malak. To support his speculations, he summons Jean-François Arnaud, from the magazine Challenges. The journalist explains that the little tapping of Rima Abdul Malak is additional “proof”. “We see that she makes the gesture as if she were surprised that the microphone works, but it works very very well. She knows it perfectly since she has been talking for several seconds into the microphone. It’s the little trick to make viewers believe that it’s improvised when it’s not improvised, “he said.
Spontaneous or prepared? With the complicity of the organizers – the president of the Molières, Jean-Marc Dumontet, is a fervent supporter of Emmanuel Macron – or without? The Ministry of Culture formally denied to TF1 Info that Rima Abdul Malak had access in one way or another to the text of the two actresses. The rue de Valois, on the other hand, assumes to have “anticipated several scenarios for the evening of the Molières”. “The minister planned to express herself in one way or another, explains the ministry to TF1 Info. At the entrance to the theater if it was blocked, to the journalists present (it is customary to give interviews on the spot), or directly in the room during the ceremony. Those around him further explain that the minister “wanted to be ready and a microphone had been requested in case she wanted to intervene.”
Microphone which was available in the room for technical aspects according to the event producer Alexandra Clément. “There are always microphones in the room in the event of an incident, she testified to TF1. It’s a question of security”, in the event of a technical problem. Our coach is very far: between him and the theater, note that there were the demonstrators of the CGT, so it was impossible for us to cross. The conditions were not super fluid Monday evening, ”adds Alexandra Clément.
If the choice of Rima Abdul Malak to answer could surprise, the intervention of the trade unionists, it, was in any case not in doubt. This type of television evenings is now subscribed to the parenthesis of claims. Formerly improvised, the irruptions are now mostly negotiated between the organizers of the ceremonies and union representatives. The Molières evening could not be an exception, especially in the tense context of pension reform. Prior to the evening, the CGT-Spectacle had also announced that it was considering action during the Molières. For its part, the CGT Energies threatened to cut off the power to cultural events. “In May, do what you like ! The Cannes film festival, the Monaco Grand Prix, the Roland-Garros tournament, the Avignon festival could end up in the dark! We won’t let go!”, announced the unions of the National Federation Mines Energy (FNME) CGT.
