Les Enfoirés are back this Friday evening on TF1. If the show still promises to be well run, the atmosphere behind the scenes is not good.
They come back and are determined to give their all “until the last”, as the flagship song of the 2024 edition proclaims. The Enfoirés show is broadcast this Friday March 1 on TF1. Filmed in January at the Arkéa Arena in Bordeaux, the show brought together the cream of French show business, with notably, among those present, Patrick Fiori, Zazie, Patrick Bruel, Michèle Laroque, Julien Clerc, Jenifer, Lara Fabian, Shy’m and Nolwenn Leroy or even Mentissa.
This 2024 edition of the Enfoirés concert is special: it marks the 35th anniversary of the artistic troupe born from the initiative of Coluche in 1985, with the aim of supporting the association Les Restos du Cœur. But it is just as important for the atmosphere that has reigned in the group for several months. Behind the glitter and euphoria that characterize the Enfoirés show each year, the climate behind the scenes is not really good.
Instead of celebrating this 35e birthday with lightness, the members of the Enfoirés are confronted with a dark reality, revealing a deep unease at the heart of their commitment : it is undoubtedly Nolwenn Leroy, present for 18 years among the bastards, who expressed it best in recent days, notably via an interview with Puremédias.com. The singer describes a feeling of nostalgia tinged with sadness in the face of the current situation of Restos du Cœur, an association which is on the verge of collapse and still risks going out of business without additional resources. The lack of support and government action is highlighted in the face of inflation and therefore poverty which has continued to grow for months, making the mission of the Restaurants more and more difficult.
“When we take stock, when we see the situation in which the Restaurants are, it is not encouraging. It is an anniversary and at the same time an observation which is difficult. This 35th anniversary is sad indeed. .”, lamented Nolwenn Leroy. And added that “all the Bastards are angry” while assuring that the association “needs help from higher up at some point”. “We say to ourselves that it is too slow, that the fight against poverty should be a priority. And that is not the case today. Clearly. It is a subject which is secondary and for me it is “is intolerable”, concludes the artist.
This anger is also shared by Michael Youn, who, in an interview for the TF1 magazine Grands reportages, expressed his exasperation at the recurring criticisms of the quality of the show. “We are around fifty artists, with around a hundred volunteers around. We try to put on the best show possible, as cheaply as possible, to bring in money so people can eat. We don’t really care to know if it’s more or less funny, more or less successful”, he recalled, concluding: “Rather than smashing up the Restos du coeur because you don’t like it, because you find it too kitsch, write a check!”
The former host recalls the troop’s primary objective: to raise funds for people in need. In 2023, 171 million meals were distributed in the country, or 40 million more than in 2022. A dazzling progression which highlights the dramatic increase in the number of people requiring food aid in France.