The director of TV3, Sigfrid Gras, has assured this Friday that the decision to fire the comedian Manel Vidal for a gag in the Zona Franca program has been his because "the limits have been crossed".
This was stated by the head of Catalan television in an interview with Jordi Basté in El món to RAC1. In the gag, the comedian used a meme with a swastika to define the position of the PSC on certain ideological issues. The following day, TV3 and the production company Atomic Beat Media agreed to dispense with the humorist's services.
Gras has affirmed during the interview that the program was responding to a "generational change in viewers", although he knew that, when programming it, "there were risks" - due to the previous controversies carried out by the comedians who participate in the program. For this reason, all the limits, according to the director of the chain, were "discussed with the producer".
"We knew who we signed and they knew where they came from. TV3 is not 'La sotana'. And we must act like the public television that we are. With Zona Franca we were looking for a generational change and we were aware that it was a risky bet," has stated.
The person in charge of Catalan television has assured that the channel and the production company review all the scripts for the program, but that the swastika gag escaped them because "it was not included in the script."
According to his version, the program was born from "a pact": "we know that you are irreverent and you that there are limits on public television. Vidal's gag does not suit TV3. It is serious," he snapped.
Sigfrid Gras has eschewed any relationship between the decision and the fact that ERC and PSC are in the middle of negotiating the new budgets, although he has affirmed that "the audience will notice changes starting next week". "Internally, no one has asked us to change the 'puta nit i bona Espanya' at the beginning of each program. But it is a joke that has already run its course."
Vidal, known for his participation in La Sotana or for being one of the members of the Catalan monologue circuit El Soterrani, will not appear again in the Zona Franca program, the late night hosted by Joel Díaz that TV3 premiered in October.
