"Hon hon hon, the cheese omelette" ... A look back at a cult sequence

Image of Maxime Switek's duplex in Washington on November 7, 2020 -

The sequence, isolated by a viewer of BFM TV on social networks, exceeds ten million views.

“It's still unbelievable,” said Maxime Switek.

The journalist from BFM TV, duplex from Washington for the announcement of the election of Joe Biden to the presidency of the United States on Saturday, then multiplies the interviews of passers-by.

When a shirtless "big fellow" appears.

After a few trivial questions, the witness begins to “throw out all the words he knows in French”, the journalist recounts.

With his classic "hon hon hon" serving to imitate the laughter of the French then the quotation of culinary specialties such as croissant, snails and the famous "cheese omelette" (reference to the cartoon Dexter's Laboratory), Meka Anyanetu has become a star by the name of "Man Cheese Omelet," and has since been interviewed by several US media.

🎤 "Han-han-han croissant, cheese omelet ..."

Our reporter @MaximeSwitek recounts his giggles during a duplex with an American on @BFMTV pic.twitter.com/2wQshTAGkg

- BFMTV (@BFMTV) November 9, 2020

Maxime Switek, when he got off the plane that brought him back to France, returned for

to this unexpected episode and to the coverage of the event by BFM TV.

What do you think is the real “cheese omelette” recipe?

Ha, I don't know (

).

But I understood that he had made a mistake on purpose to refer to a cartoon, which I did not know.

In fact, he spoke French well.

What happened to make this streak become cult?

No idea.

At the time, with the team, we said to ourselves that it was a funny and nice moment but we never could have imagined that it was going to create such a buzz.

The sequence was isolated by a French television viewer and shared by American stars.

It's crazy… What I like is that it's a buzz for a burst of laughter, it feels good.

We needed to have a good laugh.

Many observers feared tensions between Democratic and Republican supporters, we anticipated images of riots ... Finally, it is these scenes of jubilation on Saturday that will remain.

When we arrived at the beginning of last week, there were clearly fears that things would go wrong.

We saw barricades, stores that protected their windows ... And then Washington was empty and ghostly all week, beyond the usual calm of this city.

But as soon as Biden's victory was announced, we immediately felt that there would only be Democrats on the streets, there were no Trump supporters around.

The atmosphere was immediately super festive and relaxed.

How were you received as French media?

Very well, frankly.

On Saturday, we did ten hours of live, we interviewed dozens of passers-by and we were never refused.

Americans, it makes them laugh at being on French TV, there is no hostility.

A police officer spontaneously came to see us to congratulate us, the media at large, for the job we had done on this election.

Is Trump's defeat seen as revenge by the American media?

As an irony of fate, and given the very particular system of this election, it is the media which announce the victory.

There was arguably a feeling of revenge for CNN, the first major channel to announce Biden's victory, as they were viciously attacked for four years by Trump.

Afterwards, on these American channels, we sometimes heard things that go beyond simple political commentary.

It's gone a long way… It's good for everyone that there is finally a winner in this election.

For you too, right?

You must be tired ...

We worked like crazy.

We had not planned to stay so long there but we had to go to the end of the story and not pack our bags.

We have put in place the means to maintain a very demanding system.

We did 26 hours of live ... But it was worth it, the feedback is excellent.

People

US Presidential: Stars React to Joe Biden's Election (and Trump's Defeat)

Television

US Presidential: "We have an obligation of truth towards the public, if the president lies, we must say it", explains the correspondent of CNN in Paris

• BFM TV

• Joe biden

• Donald trump

• Media

• Television

• US presidential election