Background and career
Dieudonné M'bala M'bala (French pronunciation: [djødɔne ɛmbala ɛmbala]; born 11 February 1966), known mononymously as Dieudonné and popularly as Dieudo ([djødo]), is a French comedian, actor, and political activist.
He has been convicted for hate speech, advocating terrorism, Holocaust denial, and slander in France, Belgium and Switzerland.
Dieudonné initially achieved success working with Jewish comedian Élie Semoun, humorously exploiting racial stereotypes. He was a candidate in the 1997 and 2001 legislative elections in Champagny-en-Vanoise against the National Front. In 2003, Dieudonné performed a sketch on a TV show about an Israeli settler whom he depicted as a Nazi. Several organizations sued him for incitement to racial hatred. Dieudonné refused to apologize and denounced Zionism.
In 2007, Dieudonné approached Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the National Front that he had fought earlier, and the men became political allies and friends. Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson appeared in one of his shows in 2008. Dieudonné described Holocaust remembrance as "memorial pornography". He subsequently found himself regularly banned from mainstream media, and many of his shows were cancelled by local authorities. Active on the internet and in his Paris theater, Dieudonné has continued to have a following. His quenelle signature gesture became notorious in 2013, particularly after footballer Nicolas Anelka used it during a match in December 2013.
In 2013, after Dieudonné was recorded during a performance mocking a Jewish journalist, suggesting it was a pity that he was not sent to the gas chambers, Minister of Interior Manuel Valls stated that Dieudonné was "no longer a comedian" but was rather an "anti-Semite and racist" and that he would seek to ban all Dieudonné's public gatherings as a public safety risk. His shows have been banned in several French cities. On 20 January 2017, the court of appeal of Liège confirmed a first instance sentence of two months of jail time and a €9,000 fine for Dieudonné's antisemitic remarks in a performance in Herstal on 14 March 2012.
Dieudonné has also been known to associate with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran from 2005 to 2013, who has himself been accused of describing the Holocaust as a myth. On 25 February 2015, Ahmadinejad tweeted, "Visiting an old friend, a great artist." The tweet included photographs of himself and Dieudonné, arms around each other, smiling. The two also met in 2009 during a visit by Dieudonné to Iran where they reportedly discussed their shared anti-Zionist views.
