telegraph: Egypt's Jon Stewart attracts complaints with new show
By Richard Spencer.
Four legal complaints have been filed against the first programme in a new series by Egypt's best-known comic, whose airing on Friday night was seen as a test case for freedom of speech after the military took power in July.
Bassem Youssef became an instant star when his Friday evening show, loosely modelled on the news satire of the American comedian Jon Stewart, eviscerated the Muslim Brotherhood government and the former president, Mohammed Morsi. An attempt to prosecute him for insulting the president only made him more popular.
Fears that Mr Youssef would lay off Egypt's new strongman, Gen Abdulfattah al-Sisi, when his show returned, proved unfounded. He performed a skit with a confectioner selling chocolates bearing Gen Sisi's face – they have become a bestseller in the fervidly nationalistic and pro-army atmosphere of Cairo's posher suburbs – and mocked the interim president, Adly Mansour, widely seen as a faceless frontman for the army.
While not as scathing of the general as he had been with Mr Morsi, human rights activists pronounced themselves satisfied, saying that they believed he was "testing the waters".
But on social media, some of the general's supporters expressed fury, saying that it was one thing to criticise Mr Morsi, another a "national symbol".
Though privately lodged, the prosecution will be obliged to investigate the complaints. Whether he is brought to court will also be a test of the judiciary's independence from the interim authorities, who are promising to hold elections next year.
Mr Youssef himself is clearly aware that in the new Egypt he is more than just a comedian. The country is sharply divided between the Islamists who still hold regular protests on behalf of Mr Morsi and the rabidly nationalistic supporters of the army, many of whom want Gen Sisi to stand for president.
The beleaguered liberals caught in the middle have had no figurehead since Mohammed ElBaradei resigned from the vice-presidency in protest at the crackdown on protests which killed hundreds of people in July and August. Mr Youssef is beginning to fill the role instead.
CBC, the television station which airs the programme, was attacked by some liberals for a statement which appeared to distance itself from its star performer and promised always "to support national feeling".
It admitted that board members were unhappy with Mr Youssef's attacks on the regime.
In a piece for a newspaper introducing his new series, Mr Youssef mocked those who had begged him to be more critical of Mr Morsi but were now urging caution with the general. "Everyone is looking for a pharaoh his own size," he said.
|