It’s a funny coincidence. The same week, two people who had been placed “out of society”, considered in some way as outcasts, returned.
Éric Lapointe launches his 16e album and gives a show at the Capitole in Quebec.
Maripier Morin (who already started on radio at WKND) sees his return to television confirmed in With beating heart at Radio Canada.
Proof that it is not stage managers, nor the Moral Police or the BPDLCWDP (right-thinking Plateau Woke Clique) who can predict how long an artist’s purgatory will last.
It’s you, the audience. Period.
IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE
In his exclusive interview with Newspaper, Éric Lapointe confided to my colleague Alexandre Caputo: “Choosing this profession means choosing criticism, choosing the judgment of others and choosing insecurity. But I think I still have my place.”
Not only does he still have his place, but the public gave him a more than warm welcome at the Capitol. Inveterate fans even already knew the lyrics of the songs from his new album by heart… released the day before!
In March 2022, when a small cabal on the web questioned the presence of Éric Lapointe at a Maple Festival, I wrote this: “Éric Lapointe pleaded guilty in 2019 in a case of assault . I don’t want to minimize or trivialize the gestures made by the rocker. But the criminal and penal prosecuting attorney, together with the defense attorney, asked for a conditional discharge. And the judge endorsed their joint suggestion. Lapointe was not sentenced to any prison term! And should the “popular court” be more severe with Éric Lapointe than the official court? Lapointe faced justice. Why inflict a professional penalty on him?
It won’t surprise you if I tell you that a year and a half later, my opinion hasn’t changed one bit.
Last week, at the restaurant, a man introduced himself to me: “Hello, I am Mr. I wanted to thank you for the numerous texts in which you defended the presumption of innocence.”
Thank you teacher. But in a society governed by the law, it should be self-evident, like the right to full defense.
It’s like you’re thanking me for saying water is wet.
Rather, the question is, “Why aren’t more of us upholding these principles?”
WITCH HUNT
As for Maripier Morin, it was following an interview with Fabienne Larouche on QUB radio that his television destiny changed.
In January 2021, on my show, the producer declared about Morin: “There is a moment when redemption and atonement for the fault, there is a limit. We’re not going to burn her at the stake anyway!”
Maripier saw the text of Newspaper summarizing this interview, she contacted Fabienne Larouche and the rest is history.
How many artists are chomping at the bit right now in Quebec waiting to be told: “The witch hunt is over?