HANOUNA/BOYARD. The C8 channel was sentenced by Arcom, Thursday, February 9, to a fine of 3.5 million euros, following the insults of Cyril Hanouna against the rebellious deputy Louis Boyard during the program “Touche pas à my post” of November 10, 2022.
[Mis à jour le 10 février 2023 à 12h14] The sequence had made the rounds of social networks last November, when Cyril Hanouna had treated the rebellious deputy Louis Boyard of “kind of moron”, of “tocard”, of “shit” and other insults live on the set of the show Do not touch My TV, going so far as to launch his former columnist: “shut your mouth”. Finally, the host star insults have earned the C8 channel to be condemned, Thursday, February 9, to a record fine of 3.5 million euros by Arcom, the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority (formerly known as CSA). So it’s good the chain which was condemned for these remarks and which will therefore pay this fineand not Cyril Hanouna.
As a reminder, during the issue Do not touch My TV of November 10, 2022, Louis Boyard had aroused the ire of Cyril Hanouna when he had pronounced the name of Vincent Bollore and tried to talk about billionaire activities in africa. Vincent Bolloré is the leading shareholder of Vivendi, which is owner of the Canal+ group to which C8 belongs. “The Arcom has indeed considered that these remarks have infringed the rights of the guest, the respect of his honor and his reputation”, and that “this sequence reflected a lack of knowledge by the publisher of his obligation to control his its antenna,” said Arcom in a communicated released Thursday, February 9.
The authority “also considered that this sequence reflected a lack of knowledge by the publisher of its obligation to control its antenna”, specifies the press release. The media regulator also announced that it had given C8 formal notice to respect its legal obligations “relating to the honesty and independence of information”. For Arcom, Louis Boyard “had been explicitly prevented from expressing a critical point of view on set with regard to a shareholder of the Canal+ group, to which the C8 television service belongs” and, subsequently, “the The broadcast had not been carried out under conditions which guarantee the independence of the information.
“We take note of Arcom’s decision and we will reserve the right to see what we are going to do next,” reacted Cyril Hanouna on his show on Thursday evening. “The billionaire Bolloré wanted to censor me. We Touched His Post”, for his part wrote on Twitter Louis Boyard, referring to the name of the program presented by the host.
C8 already condemned because of “Do not touch my post”
The C8 chain has already been the subject of several formal notices but also sanctions in the context of facts that occurred in the program Do not touch My TVas recalled French Radio. Before this new fine, C8 had been given formal notice on November 18, 2022 by Arcom, due to comments made by Cyril Hanouna on the Lola affair.
In his show Do not touch My TV of October 18, 2022, the star host of C8 had indeed called several times for expedited trials As it concerns underage murder cases. “These sequences, by their repetitive nature, reflect a breach by the publisher of the obligation to deal with moderation in an ongoing legal case,” said the media regulator. C8 was also given formal notice by the media regulator for acts of clandestine advertising on two occasions, in 2019 then in 2022. Facts which had, for both cases, occurred in the program Do not touch My TV by Cyril Hanouna.
Above all, C8 has already been the subject of convictions by the CSA, ancestor of the Arcom, in the past. In December 2016, an off-air sequence was broadcast in Do not touch My TV, as part of the chronicle of comedian Jean-Luc Lemoine. In this extract, Nasturtium Anav, columnist for the show at the time, was blindfolded, and Cyril Hanouna made her touch parts of her body so that she could guess which part it was. The sequence had slipped when the presenter had him put his hand on his crotch. The CSA then had sentenced C8 to suspend advertising for two weeks, dealing a serious blow to the channel’s revenues.
In 2017, a homophobic hoax orchestrated in a variant of Do not touch My TV also had resulted in C8 being fined 3 million euros by the CSA. The facts had occurred in the broadcast TPMP Radio Baba, where Cyril Hanouna notably made phone pranks with his columnists. In one of these hoaxes, the aim was to trick gay men through a fake ad posted on a dating site. When they called the number left on this ad, these men actually fell on Cyril Hanouna live on the show. Thinking of conversing with an average user of a dating site, they discussed with the host, who did not hesitate to appeal to the worst stereotypes about homosexuals. “The C8 company has seriously disregarded the principle of respect for privacy as well as its obligation to fight against discrimination”, considered the CSA at the time.