On May 11, 2012, a Canadian promoter cancelled shows by French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala at Montreal's Corona Theater "due to contractual conflicts." The cancellation followed complaints over the plans to host Dieudonné, whose comedy has long centered around antisemitic, anti-Zionist, and revisionist themes, resulting in numerous convictions for defamation, both in France and in Canada.
Previously that week, Belgian police banned Dieudonné from appearing in Brussels, after determining that the content of his show violated local laws.[1]
MEMRI has covered Dieudonné's antisemitic activities in the past and has provided government authorities, including Canada's, with translations and information on him. Earlier this year, for instance, MEMRI reported on a film he directed, the French-Iranian coproduction The Antisemite, which parodies Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz and derides the "usual propaganda" about the Holocaust. [2] MEMRI also released a subtitled clip of the film's trailer.
It should be noted that on May 25, 2012, the Cannes Film Festival announced that it would not screen The Antisemite, as its policy banned showing films offensive to religious beliefs or films inciting violence.
The following is the transcript of The Antisemite's trailer:
"The Event of the Year"
Titles: "The Event of the Year
"Banned in France
"The Film that Caused a Scandal Even Before Its Release'
"The First Film by Dieudonné M'bala M'bala
"The Antisemite
"Haft Aseman Cinema Company Production Presents
"Auschwitz 1945"
Dieudonné voiceover: "So, once they arrive in Auschwitz, the Allied Forces encounter a spectacle of horror and desolation."
Titles: "Scram! We're filming history!"
"Please! Something to eat!"
Dieudonné voiceover: "American officer William Murdock says:"
Title: "Go ahead! Wolf it down!"
"Humanity In Its Entirety Was Forever Marked With Barbarism"
Dieudonné voiceover: "Humanity in its entirety was forever marked with barbarism."
Photo of "Officer William Murdock"
Dieudonné voiceover: "Thanks to the extremely ingenious and complex pipe system, gas was channeled into the chamber."
Title: "Oh my God!"
Dieudonné voice over: "On the door of the gas chamber, 'Bathich Roomen' – bathroom – was written."
Title: "The irrefutable proof..."
Dieudonné voiceover: "In a homicide chamber such as this, the Nazi regime gassed two million Jews, and some other inconsequential wretched people."
Titles: "But how does it work?"
"It's incredible!"
Dieudonné voiceover: "More than 80 deportees were piled up in this narrow place, in order to be asphyxiated."
Titles: "The notorious showers…"
"But where did the gas come from?"
"The Gas Used For Killing Was Zyklon B"
Dieudonné voiceover: "The gas used for killing was Zyklon B."
Title: "Can I take it with me? It can always come in handy!"
Dieudonné voiceover: "The bodies were moved to a central crematorium, and to the makeshift crematoria, like this one, used to burn the newly born."
Titles: "– A fork?!"
"– Ahhh… We will cut it out in the editing!"
"– Chicken bones?"
"– Ahhh… No. Children bones!"
"You're Sitting On My Grandmother!"
Dieudonné voiceover: "Other bodies were flayed, and the skin was used to make comfortable leather armchairs,"
Title: "Careful! You're sitting on my grandmother!"
Dieudonné voiceover: "or luxurious lampshades that were much appreciated by the Nazi bourgeois."
Title: "– Is this made of Jewish skin too?"
"– Of course!"
Dieudonné voiceover: "In spite of this ample irrefutable proof, some still deny the Shoah."
"The End!
"The Antisemite – soon to be released on DVD. Exclusively for our subscribers starting March 21. Available soon to all at www.diedonne-official.com.
"Subscribe at www.dieudonne-official.com…"
Endnotes:
[1] National Post (Canada), May 11, 2012.
[2] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No.4313, "Antisemitic French Comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala To Release Iran-Produced Film, 'The Anti-Semite,'" November 25, 2011, Antisemitic French Comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala To Release Iran-Produced Film, 'The Anti-Semite'.
