On Friday, comedian Atle Antonsen is back in the radio program “The Mission” on P4 with Johan Golden.
It happens two months after he was reported for hate speech and reckless behavior by editor and social debater Sumaya Jirde Ali.
A final sentence in the case was set two weeks ago, when the Attorney General dropped the case.
Antonsen told Jirde Ali at Bar Boca that she “was too dark to be here”. The Attorney General believes this was a failed attempt at satire on racism.
On Friday, Antonsen is back in “The Mission”, after he himself asked to be exempted from the program this autumn.
The fact that Antonsen will return to the limelight on Friday causes several people to react.
READ ALSO: This is the plan for the comeback.
JOKE: Comedian Morten Ramm jokes about what he would have done if he had become racist. Photo: Espen Solli / TV 2
– Had moved abroad
Comedian colleague Morten Ramm tells TV 2 that he does not want to say anything publicly about Atle Antonsen returning to the limelight already now.
– I do not want to become part of that debate and become part of the comment fields, but I can add that in a workplace there are always underlying issues that do not necessarily reach most people and the media. An employer always makes such a decision after an overall assessment, says Ramm.
Nevertheless, he is resoundingly clear that he himself would not have sought to return to the limelight if he himself had been accused of racism or metoo.
– If I had ended up where I had become racist or tried to sleep with a woman at work, then I would have moved abroad. Then I just had to cross my fingers that the country I’m moving to welcomes me with open arms and that there isn’t a Bar Boca or Syng there, jokes the comedian.
– Too early
Head of the Antiracist Centre, Hatem Ben Mansour, believes it is too early for Antonsen to return to the limelight.
– It’s too early. The reason for that is that it can have a re-traumatizing effect, says Mansour.
He says that when you are exposed to racism, you feel unsafe and lose trust in people.
The fact that Antonsen was reported for racism and the fact that “the consequences are really nothing”, says Mansour, that it can be burdensome for Jirde Ali.
– I think many people do not understand the mechanism of racism and what it leads to among those who are exposed to it, says Mansour.
– When do you think Antonsen can return to work?
– It would have been natural not to start in such a high-profile job in the limelight until the matter had quieted down a bit, like six months, he says.
TOO EARLY: Hatem Ben Mansour, head of the Antiracist Centre, believes Atle Antonsen’s comeback is too early. Photo: Ingvild Gjerdsjø / TV 2
– For life?
TV profile Mads Hansen says he thinks there are as many opinions about the Antonsen comeback as there are people. He says it is difficult to answer when a comeback is too early or not.
– If you have some opinion about something within the most heated topics and express them, then you can easily be accused of being intolerant, and you can actually be cancelled. It is ironic, because it is those who cancel who claim to be the tolerant ones, says the presenter.
He emphasizes that it does not necessarily apply to this case, but refers to cancellation culture in general.
DIFFICULT: Mads Hansen says it is difficult to answer what is the right time for a comeback. Photo: Espen Solli/TV 2
– In such cases as the Antonsen case, it is really a discretionary assessment of how serious the case is, whether it has been punishable or not. If it is not punishable, how long should you be suspended for? Is it for life? How much time is enough? He asks rhetorically and continues:
– That is very difficult to answer.
– The problem is also that media houses as employers have different opinions about it. In 2023, many of the profiles will be in several media houses. It may well be that P4 has one opinion, while Discovery has another. It may seem strange, but should they drive together? Such assessments become extra difficult in such a multimedia age, he says.
MDG politician Eivind Trædal has also spoken out. On Monday, he wrote the following on Twitter:
Sumaya Jirde Ali has quit her job as editor and has been exposed to enormous strain. Antonsen is quickly forgiven. There is no great risk of “cancellation” in our society. Those who step over the line can stroll comfortably on, the victim remains. https://t.co/Kfm9n7ZFov
— Eivind Trædal (@eivindtraedal) January 16, 2023
On Thursday, Trædal tells TV 2 that he believes it costs a lot to speak up.
– I haven’t decided when or how Antonsen will be able to “come back”, but I think the situation is quite tragic and typical. The person who stepped over the line is relatively quickly back in the arena, while the person who was trampled is down for the count. It sends a nasty signal to everyone else who is exposed to racism. The cost of speaking up is enormous, says Trædal.
Out towards P4
After Jirde Ali reported Antonsen in November, she has not commented on the case.
On Wednesday, her friend Hasti Hamidi published a post on Facebook where she talked about the strain it is to receive many inquiries about the case and about Antonsen’s comeback on Friday.
TV 2 has received permission to refer to the post.
In the post, it appears that it is “striking that the entertainment industry – here represented by P4 – is so keen to move on”.
Also in the comments section, there are many who advocate the same, and refer to the articles about the interrogations that TV 2 has been given access to.
“On the whole, there is a public that finds racism too unpleasant to want to dwell on or understand it. This happens primarily with regard to the person who exposed her to this. He is the one to blame, he is the one who has suffered enough, he is the one who should be allowed to work again – and of course it is important that he does so, but the perspective of the person on the receiving end has been completely erased . Whether she gets to work, whether she is well, seems to be irrelevant. And if it is to be communicated at all, the responsibility lies with her,” she writes.
– Appreciate
Atle Antonsen’s lawyer, Marianne Klausen, has been presented with Hamidi’s post and the Antiracist Centre’s comment.
Klausen writes an e-mail to TV 2 that Antonsen himself asked to be exempted from the P4 program and withdrew from the TVNorge program “Kongen Befaler”.
– He is now ready to start working again in “The Mission”, and appreciates that P4 wants him back. The channel’s management has been clear that as the prosecution’s conclusion was so clear, it was clear that Antonsen could return to his duties. P4 has also emphasized the importance that Antonsen has apologized for the episode at Bar Boca in the strongest terms, and expressed clear remorse, says Klausen in the email.
TV 2 has been in contact with P4 on Thursday, which will not give any further comments about Antonsen’s return beyond what was known last week.
P4 said last week that an important clarification in the case was the Attorney-General’s justification for the closure so clearly concluded that the case must be “understood as a poorly successful attempt at satire on racism”, and that Antonsen has apologized and expressed strong remorse.
– Make her sicker
The friend also writes in the post that there are many journalists who contact Jirde Ali. Hamidi writes that it is understandable, since she has not yet commented on the matter. But she writes that “the burden that follows such inquiries is not taken into account”.
“Sumaya is struggling mentally because of the repercussions related to the incident and all the visibility it entailed, then both in a positive and negative sense, and the outcome of the legal assessments by the state and attorney general,” Hamidi writes.
Furthermore, Hamidi writes that this characterizes and defines her everyday life. Constantly getting requests for interviews and comments related to upcoming and possible cases, “makes it impossible for her to be able to move on”.
“And in addition, she has to come to terms with the fact that a man who humiliated her in the worst way so soon is visible again”, she writes further.
Hamidi says that Jirde Ali is resourceful and has many contacts she can talk to, but that she cannot get to that point.
“She is given neither space nor time to process the incident and its aftermath when she constantly has to politely turn away journalists. Constantly having to explain that you are not feeling well, that you cannot comment, reinforces the loneliness that racism brings. It simply makes her sicker.”
