Dieudonné: from anti-racist activism to allegations of anti-Semitism
This chapter will show that career trajectory of Dieudonné raises many important questions about the limits of freedom expression and the extent to which it is possible to police offensive humour. Despite being associated with anti-racist movements in the 1990s, he has more recently come to be associated with the far right at a time when his stage shows and public declarations have become ever more controversial. Indeed, he has been convicted of inciting racial hatred following both performances and public declarations in which he has made anti-Semitic comments. This chapter will argue that the way in which Dieudonné foregrounds many of his stage shows by alluding to controversies in which he has been involved makes it increasingly difficult to separate Dieudonné the on-stage comedian and Dieudonné the polemicist.