Comedian Pranks France 2 News,Claimingโ to be “King of Good deals”
PARIS – France 2’s flagship 8 p.m. news program, โค Le 20h, was the target of a publicityโข stunt by a comedian who falselyโ presented himself as an expert on supermarket promotions during a report on consumer savings. The individual, who afterward promotedโ his upcoming Paris show on Instagram and TikTok with theโค tagline “I pretend to be the kingโ of good deals on theโ 8 p.m. news,” misled a Le 20h โ journalist with a fabricated identity.
The incident, revealed by France Tรฉlรฉvisions in a December 2nd statement on X (formerly Twitter), โcomes at a particularly sensitive time for the public broadcaster. France Tรฉlรฉvisions is currently navigatingโฃ significant budget cuts, a recent bomb threat that led to the โevacuation ofโ its headquarters, and mounting criticism from โฃfar-right political factions seeking to dismantle public broadcasting. โขThe Le 20h program itselfโ has faced scrutinyโ since Lรฉa Salamรฉ took the helm in September,following โcontroversies including a question about marion Cotillard’s personal life and aโค misidentification of educators Dominique Bernard and Samuel Paty,both victims of terrorist attacks.โฃ
The comedian publicized the prank on Instagram and TikTok this Tuesday,โค linking it โฃto ticket โsales โฃfor his โfirst Paris performance. France Tรฉlรฉvisions acknowledged the โขdeception in a post on X, stating, “we wanted to pointโฃ out that yesterday, โฃduring โour report โonโฃ good deals โคand promotions inโ supermarkets, one of the people interviewed misled one of our journalists โby falsifying his identity. He was actually a comedian adept atโฆ”
the incident raises questionsโค about journalistic vetting procedures at a moment when the network is under intense pressure and facing โincreased public and political scrutiny. The future of France Tรฉlรฉvisions, and the role of public broadcasting in France, remains a subject โฃof ongoing debate and parliamentary investigation.
