http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmqAjr0xs04

In December, comedian Steve Harvey inadvertently announced the wrong winner of the Miss Universe Pageant on live, national TV. It was horrible. He then had to correct his mistake, the wrongly crowned Miss Columbia had to be uncrowned, and everyone except the sadists in the audience felt awkward and embarrassed. Harvey sincerely apologized, more than once.

How anyone could be aware of that fiasco, which received world-wide attention, and conclude that it would be hilarious to do the same fake-winner bit intentionally is beyond my small mind to comprehend. Such individuals would have to have their ethics alarms installed backwards, or buy them from the Bizarro World of Superman Comics. Yet the organizers of the Angouleme International Comics Festival this tear decided exactly that: “Let’s announce the wrong winners! It will be great!“

The ceremony began with the MC, comedian Richard Gaitet,  announcing that“This will be the shortest ceremony in history, because all we want to do is drink and dance!” He then presented all nine awards in rapid succession, including the Fauve d’Or, the biggest award of the show, to Arsène Schrauwen, by Olivier Schrauwen. Then two women appeared and announced that the awards just handed out were fake, and they presented the real awards to completely different artists. The “winners” who just accepted their prizes in the exhilaration of pride and recognition, were as stunned as Miss Columbia.

The audience reaction, meanwhile, was exactly as you, I or any sane person would expect. Nobody laughed. Everyone felt that the targets of the practical joke had been abused. “We were all happy, we had tears in our eyes, and then we were humiliated,” said Sam Soubigui of Komikku, one of the publishers whose book won a “Faux Fauve” (fake prize). Another publisher who accepted a phony prize had already relayed the news of the honor to the writer and artist of the book that “won,” and then had to call them back and explain. One editor whose comic won a “Faux Fauve” left the auditorium in tears when she realized it was fake.

The condemnation of the stunt on social media was swift and unanimous. The organizers of the festival thought this was an appropriate response (courtesy of the French to English Google app, further translated by me from the typical gibberish these programs often create):

For years, the awards ceremonies Angoulême International Comics Festival (sometimes called “closing ceremonies”) have been criticized by some of the industry on the subject of boredom they have inspired their viewers. To try to answer these recurrent criticisms and thus meet the expectations of the professional community of the 9th art, the Festival organization has chosen this year to entrust the animation of this ceremony in a recognized professional, Richard Gaitet, host of a literary daily two-hour program on Radio Nova (Nova Book Box)…

The mission entrusted to him by the Festival was clear and assumed: try to avoid … a classic institutional ceremony [by] infusing the spectacle [with] freedom, humor and impertinence, in line with the spirit of independence of most of the artists 9th art. To enhance the effectiveness of the ceremony, the Festival organization has added to it the services of a professional stage director, Jules Audry …

…Gaitet was immediately installed the ceremony in the register of the wink and the hoax: a presentation of “false Fauves” supposed to reward big cats (facetious lion, puma running in the forest, tiger used as carpet, large spotted cat, cat mechanic, etc.), in reference to the famous Festival mascot designed by Lewis Trondheim. This facetious introduction ended with a satirical portrayal of an actress, saying, “Congratulations to Richard for that joke about fake Fauves and the size of the Grand Prix! We laughed a lot, but now we must go.” This humorous sequence as a whole lasted 8 minutes and 17 seconds for a ceremony for a total one hour and forty minutes….

[With] the awards ceremony  over, some professionals are upset with this choice of presentation, on the grounds that these “false Fauves” attributed to animals could mistakenly install the confusion in people’s minds about their own work and their status as winners.

This is indeed the device of hoaxes: instill doubt briefly to raise a smile. It is regrettable that the humorous register of this sequence was not shared or enjoyed by all, and the Festival organization is ready to submit written regrets to those of comic authors who may have felt offended by this sequence. However, like the authors and artists it honors, the Festival organization embraces its outspokenness and right to engage in satire. It was obviously not the intention of the organizers, and no more of the facilitator, to hurt anyone. For years now, the delivery of the most recognized awards ceremonies are hosted by presenters who are likely to engage in humorous and facetious conduct. The public (spectators, viewers, Internet …) can hardly be surprised or shocked when this occurs, [and]the awards ceremony of the 43rd edition of the Festival took place in this tradition.

On the Ethics Alarms Apology Scale, this hits rock bottom, a #10:

“An insincere and dishonest apology designed to allow the wrongdoer to escape accountability cheaply, and to deceive his or her victims into forgiveness and trust, so they are vulnerable to future wrongdoing.”

The translation of this Faux Apology is a snotty “Too bad you’re not smart enough to get the joke. You should have expected it. This was trivial and a small portion of the ceremony, and we don’t deserve all this criticism, but if will make anyone feel better, we’ll pretend to apologize.”

Gaitet, the MC, did a better job, saying,  “My fundamental mistake was failing to grasp the range of expectations and hopes, the strong emotions that reigned in the room on such an occasion, nor did I realize the importance of social networks in this context.” Mentioning each of the “Faux Fauves” recipients by name, Gailet concluded, “I am sincerely sorry for having hurt the professionals who work very hard to support this major art that I love: comics. No, it was neither the place nor the time nor the year to try such a trick.”

So much unethical conduct could be avoided if this simple, obvious thought intervened before it was too late: “Wait a second! These are human beings!”