We don't laugh with the coronavirus, and even less with the pizza. A satirical video of Groland broadcast on Canal + provoked the ire of the Italians on Tuesday, leading the French television channel to apologize.
On this video, rebroadcast by Italian media with the warning message "Warning, the following images could offend your sensitivity", we see a pizza maker coughing and spitting green mucus on a pizza out of the oven. The "Corona pizza", "the new Italian pizza that will go around the world", says the voiceover. The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luigi Di Maio, castigated false advertising "in bad taste and unacceptable".
"Deeply disrespectful"
Italy is the European country most affected by the coronavirus epidemic, with 79 dead and just over 2,500 people infected. Countries, such as France or Great Britain, have announced cases of contagion directly linked to trips to the peninsula or to contacts with Italians on their soil.
"I understand the satire," but "making fun of Italians in this way, with the emergency around the coronavirus that we are facing, is deeply disrespectful," said Luigi Di Maio, on Facebook.
For the Minister of Agriculture, Teresa Bellanova, this video is "shameful and horrible". "I activated the diplomatic channels to report the content broadcast, I expect Canal + to immediately remove it and apologize," she added. The Minister was soon heard.
"A short sequence of very bad taste"
"Canal + apologizes to our Italian friends following the broadcast of a short sequence of very bad taste, especially in the current context, caricaturally referring to Italy during a satirical program", explained a spokeswoman for Canal +, contacted by AFP.
“This sequence is already removed from all reruns and replay of the chain. Canal + is sending a letter of apology to the Italian Ambassador to Paris this afternoon, ”she added.
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- Pizza
- Italy
- coronavirus
- Groland
- Television