Following the publication of a racist video that sowed controversy, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge lost his position as host of the show Masked singershas learned THE Newspaper.
Screenshot of Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge’s apology video
Screenshot taken from Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge’s Instagram account
According to our information, TVA and Quebecor Content decided Monday evening that “the production will make a change to the animation with a view to broadcasting the fourth season next fall.” Filming with the new host will begin in the coming months.
Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge hosted the first three seasons of Masked singers, TVA show among the most listened to on Sunday evening.
However, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge will still host season 2 of If we still loved each other, which is scheduled to be released this spring. According to our information, since filming has been completed and in order not to penalize the production team, Louise Sigouin and the participants, TVA and Quebecor Content have decided to maintain the show.
Summary of the case
Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge pays the price for his questionable humor. Last Friday, he released a video of himself walking in a wooded area. “Sometimes life is also about working. Work hard. There is an expression that sums it up very well. Sometimes, it’s like saying, I have a lot of work,” says Lemay-Thivierge, embracing a birch tree on which the very derogatory word “nigga” is engraved.
Its publication immediately began to attract comments of astonishment and anger from Internet users and artists.
Comedian Eddy King wrote: “What the f***ing problem is you?!?! Do you think you’re funny? If you want to ruin your career or self-destruct, do it in your corner like a big boy, but don’t get us involved in that!”
Alerted by a friend, Saturday morning, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge published an apology video in which he claims not to have seen the word engraved in the tree.
“On the heads of my mother, my father, my children, I have never seen these letters,” he claims.
Despite his clumsy apology, his “joke” appearing to refer to the phrase “work like a n…” continued to spark a wave of protests.
Fiery reactions
Co-host of the show Everybody talks about it Sunday evening, Pierre-Yves Lord wanted to speak on this subject.
“I find that it makes no sense in 2024 to have fun with this word, to make jokes about it. I know that this person is trying to apologize, to tell us that she came across this birch tree by chance…,” he said.
Host Varda Étienne revealed on CIBL radio that she had been approached by Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge during the weekend. “He begged me to come to his aid,” she said.
“This man has clearly demonstrated that he is completely insensitive to such a crucial subject even in 2024,” she wrote on social networks, thanking Pierre-Yves Lord for having “denounced, live, the odious behavior , racist and deeply offensive by Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge.
Rapper Sarahmée also reacted on TikTok: “We are fed up with people like you. We’re tired of people making jokes and not thinking… My heart is pounding, I’m really angry.”
A regular at controversies
In September 2021, in the midst of a pandemic, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge lost his contract as a spokesperson for Hyundai after declaring that he was not vaccinated because he was waiting for “a Quebec vaccine”.
In 2022, he interrupted the Gémeaux awards gala by inviting himself on stage to deliver a rambling speech.
The interview request from Newspaper with Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge remained unanswered.