Suspended for three weeks pending possible dismissal, France Inter comedian Guillaume Meurice has been summoned to a disciplinary committee on May 30 at 2:30 p.m. by the human resources department of Radio France, he announced Wednesday.
“The sanction envisaged is early termination for serious misconduct” of his employment contract, he is reminded in his summons, which follows a prior interview dating from last Thursday. “No final sanction decision” will be “notified less than two working days after the commission is held” and the comedian may request “during the meeting (…) that this minimum period be increased to eight calendar days », It is specified. Asked by AFP, the management of Radio France did not wish to comment.
Guillaume Meurice was removed from the air on May 2, four days after repeating his controversial comments about Benjamin Netanyahu made at the end of October. He had compared the Israeli Prime Minister to a “kind of Nazi but without a foreskin”, which had earned him accusations of anti-Semitism and a complaint, recently dismissed. The comedian, who may be assisted on May 30 by a person of his choice among Radio France employees, was accompanied by a South union representative during his preliminary interview last week.
At the end of this interview, the union explained that Guillaume Meurice was accused of having repeated his controversial remarks “knowing that Arcom (the audiovisual regulator) had sent Radio France a warning remains” the first time. Thus, the columnist would have “lacked loyalty to his employer” and would have done so “in order to serve personal interests”, reports Sud which disputes this. “Radio France’s HR department has sufficient elements to waive a sanction which could go as far as early termination of the employment contract,” believes the union.
A strike against the suspension of Guillaume Meurice had prevented the broadcast of Charline Vanhoenacker’s show on Sunday, May 12, of which he is a part, and disrupted the programs of this station during the day.