“Serge Gainsbourg, the flame of scandal”: the comic strip which recounts the famous scene of the burned ticket

Sébastien Bordenave // ​​Photo credit: PHILIPPE WOJAZER / AFP 7:24 a.m., March 11, 2024

Serge Gainsbourg knew better than anyone how to create controversy.

40 years ago, on March 11, 1984 precisely, the singer of

burned a 500 franc note live on television.

A fashionable provocation from Gainsbourg to denounce the tax racket of the socialist government of the time.

This gesture is now illustrated in a comic strip called

. 

>> READ ALSO - 

The comic book market has stalled in 2023

The event had such an impact on people's minds that those who were not born still remember it.

So, was the gesture spontaneous?

Was the provocation illegal?

And above all, was a book really necessary?

The truth is that yes, Gainsbourg's gesture was planned.

We told the photographers present on site, “You should stay, Gainsbourg is going to do something stupid.”

The photographer will not be disappointed.

Illegal to burn a bill?

On its back, it is written that life imprisonment is planned for its counterfeiting, but nothing about its destruction. 

The ticket recovered at the last minute

As for the meticulous book

by Julien Paganetti and embellished with unpublished photos by Michel Giniés, it is essential for anyone who still loves Gainsbourg.

Otherwise, know that the rest of the burned ticket was recovered at the last minute by the photographer.

A cleaning lady was going to throw him into the trash bag.

With this book, we become aware that regretting or decrying Gainsbourg's legacy is incredibly complex.

In any case, if God is a Havana smoker, Gainsbourg was a hell of a paschal burner.