TSR: Case dropped for racial discrimination
The Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office has dropped a case of racial discrimination against the French-Swiss television station. A radio host, appearing as a guest on the cultural talk show «Tard pour bar,» had called the French comedian Dieudonné a «Negro.».
The public prosecutor's office in Geneva has dropped a case of racial discrimination against French-speaking Swiss television. A radio presenter had called the French comedian Dieudonné a "nigger" as a guest on the cultural talk show "Tard pour bar". The statements made by presenter Pascal Bernheim were inappropriate and clumsy, concluded Attorney General Daniel Zappelli. However, as the presenter made them in a program that tested the limits of humour, these words were intended as a joke and are not relevant under criminal law. According to SDA, French-speaking Swiss television wrote this in a statement on Thursday.
The complaint against the presenter of the program, Michel Zendali, the program director Gilles Pache and the presenter Pascal Bernheim was filed by the African cultural association Kasaï.
The term "Negro" was also at issue in a case that the Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (UBI) had to deal with in December. At the time, the UBI rejected a complaint against a radio program about Barack Obama. Obama - before his election as US President - had been referred to as a "nigger" in a fictitious conversation between two Swiss tourists on a campsite in Italy in the "Zweierleier" program on Radio DRS 1. A listener objected to this.
The complaint against the presenter of the program, Michel Zendali, the program director Gilles Pache and the presenter Pascal Bernheim was filed by the African cultural association Kasaï.
The term "Negro" was also at issue in a case that the Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (UBI) had to deal with in December. At the time, the UBI rejected a complaint against a radio program about Barack Obama. Obama - before his election as US President - had been referred to as a "nigger" in a fictitious conversation between two Swiss tourists on a campsite in Italy in the "Zweierleier" program on Radio DRS 1. A listener objected to this.
