2 - Dieudonné: from anti-racist activism to allegations of anti-Semitism

Summary

Introduction

Although this chapter focuses on a different form of humour compared to the previous chapter – namely that of stand-up comedy rather than the cartoons and articles of a satirical weekly publication – it will maintain the focus on debates about provocative humour and offensiveness. Whereas the last chapter traced ways in which Charlie Hebdo has in recent years gone from being perceived as a marginal and controversial publication to one which is now much more widely celebrated, this chapter will focus on an individual who has followed a radically different trajectory. However, it will maintain the focus on media and humour, and in particular media reactions to controversial humour. The French comedian and actor Dieudonné is someone whose brand of comedy and political activism has changed significantly over the last two decades. In the 1990s, he was famous for his double act with Elie Semoun that frequently saw them perform sketches in which they took on the role of banlieue teenagers Cohen and Bokassa, the former being Jewish and the latter of West African descent. Their different origins were frequently a key source of humour although generally in a light-hearted and non-threatening manner. Semoun and Dieudonné also released a DVD in 1993 entitled Une certaine idée de la France; it took the form of a mock news bulletin and saw them dress up as a range of characters including young people and policemen from a suburban housing estate, former ice skaters, members of the Foreign Legion, a rapping homeless person, academics, a witch doctor, and a sex shop owner. The pair's stage shows were often produced by Pascal Legitimus, a member of the off-beat 1990s comedy group Les Inconnus and their act was described as ‘a multicultural, banlieue version of Laurel and Hardy’.

After Dieudonné and Semoun ceased performing together, Dieudonné increasingly sought to use his notoriety to defend the cause of anti-racism. One of the most high-profile ways he did so was by standing the 1997 legislative elections in Dreux (50 miles west of Paris) in order to help prevent the Front national's Marie-France Stirbois from being elected in the town where her party had gained their first councillor in 1983.