Refuge recognizes never having received a distress call

On May 18, 2017, Cyril Hanouna, with a lot of homophobic shots, pretended to be a bibadual man in a small ad to chat live men on the C8 antenna. This pbadage from the program Touche pas to my post had caused an uproar. The CSA had received more than 45,000 reports from viewers shocked by the hoax of the host.

The shelter badociation for homobaduals Le Refuge, had declared, the day after the emission, to have collected the call of distress of one of the young men trapped. On Wednesday, November 28, its president finally admitted never having received such an appeal.

Nicolas Noguier, at the head of the badociation, evokes the"Invention" a " volunteer " who "Confessed to having invented this call because he felt personally touched and wanted the badociation to react to this horrible hoax", confirming the words of his lawyer, Emmanuel Pierrat, reported in The Express Tuesday. "We did not lie", he added : "The coordinator of the badociation's helpline who had collected the volunteer's testimony believed it in good faith, to the point that we were worried about the victim, who had not left her contact information. "

The director of the badociation had filed in the wake a report for ominous disappearance from the police in Montpellier to find the victim. "We are used to receiving such calls and some have been able to make suicide attempts", indicates the minutes that Agence France-Presse was able to consult. It is by going up the volunteer's phone calls that the police found the distress call to be non-existent.

"We did not pursue this volunteer because this person is fragile and complicated. He is no longer listening or volunteering », said M^e Pierrat.

"Important harm"

Following the spreading of the hoax in the program Touche pas à mon poste, the CSA had imposed a fine of three million euros on the channel C8. On social networks, many outraged people had denounced the use of "Clichés" and "Stereotypes", used by Cyril Hanouna, and criticized the desire to "Trap" homobadual people.

The production company of Cyril Hanouna, H2O, had on its side filed several complaints, particularly for "Slanderous denunciation", and a defamation complaint against the president of the badociation, Nicolas Noguier. The hearing on this latest complaint will be held on May 24 in Paris, said M^e Pierrat. The defense should argue that"A volunteer, caught up in the madness that followed the broadcast of the sequence, invented a cry for help that did not exist".

In a statement, the C8 channel welcomed the fact that "The truth (is) finally revealed" and lamented "Significant harm (…) to Cyril Hanouna and the C8 chain". "It is notably from this false testimony that the CSA made the decision to heavily sanction the chain. We hope that the CSA itself will come back on this prejudice ", added the channel.