{{short description|French journalist, singer, and comedian (born 1952)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Philippe Val | image = Philippe Val, France Inter (8513628892).jpg | imagesize = | caption = Philippe Val (2013) | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1952|9|14}} | birth_place = Neuilly-sur-Seine, France | occupation = {{hlist|Journalist|comedian|singer}} | notable_works = | known_for = ''Font et Val'' comedy duo<br />Co-founder of ''Charlie Hebdo'' }}
'''Philippe Val''' ({{IPA|fr|filip val|lang}}; born 14 September 1952)<ref name="mediatheque"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://storage.canalblog.com/67/14/305579/55601785.jpg|title=Assignation en justice|work=Le Parisien|date=17 May 2009|language=fr}}</ref> is a French journalist, singer, and comedian. He was a co-founder of the second iteration of ''Charlie Hebdo'' in 1992, serving as the satirical political weekly's editor and director.<ref name="neffati"/> After leaving ''Charlie Hebdo'' in 2009, Val was director of the public radio channel France Inter until 2014.<ref name="ouest"/>
==Biography== Val was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hautsde-Seine) to a butcher's father and a hairdressing mother, as the last of four siblings.<ref name="leparisien">{{cite news|url=http://www.leparisien.fr/abo-loisirs-et-spectacles/philippe-val-l-ami-qui-derange-17-05-2009-516196.php|title=Philippe Val, l'ami qui dérange|work=Le Parisien|date=17 May 2009|language=fr}}</ref> Val first became known as a member of the comedy duo ''Font et Val'' with Patrick Font from 1970 until 1996, and sometimes as a one-person show performer, with his dog "Jeff".<ref name="mediatheque">{{cite web|url=https://mediatheque.sainthilairederiez.fr/node/512177?q=node%2F512177|title=Val, Philippe (1952-....)|work=La Médiathèque|accessdate=15 June 2024|language=fr}}</ref> He is also a singer and pianist. At the turn of the 21st century, he performed with Emmanuel Binet on bass. His last album was called simply ''Philippe Val''.<ref name="mediatheque"/>
===''Charlie Hebdo'' career=== Val was briefly the editor of the satirical political weekly ''La Grosse Bertha'' in 1991, and appointed Cabu, Charb, Gébé, Peroni, and Tignous to his editorial team.<ref name="neffati"/> After he was removed from his position in 1992, he helped re-launch ''Charlie Hebdo'' together with Bernard Maris, Xavier Pasquini, Albert Algoud, Olivier Cyran, Luz, and Riss.<ref name="neffati"/>
In 2004, following the death of Gébé, Val succeeded him as director of ''Charlie Hebdo'', while still holding his position as editor. Several contributors and journalists, including Olivier Cyran, Mona Chollet, and Philippe Corcuff protested against Val's ideas and left the magazine.<ref name="neffati"/> Val's editorship of Charlie Hebdo was influenced by three convictions: philo-Semitism, anti-sociologisme, and an aversion to Islam due to the assumption that anti-Semitism is intrinsic to Arab identity and Islam.<ref name="neffati">{{Cite journal|last=Neffati|first=Imen|date=August 2021|title=Anti-sociologisme, Zionism, and Islamophobia in Philippe Val's Charlie Hebdo|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09571558211027041|journal=French Cultural Studies|volume=32|issue=3 |pages=280–95|doi=10.1177/09571558211027041 |s2cid=236917009 |doi-access=free}}</ref> As editorial director, Val chose to publish the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons in late 2005. As a result of publishing the cartoons, ''Charlie Hebdo'' was taken to court for inciting hatred; in 2007 it was acquitted of those charges.<ref name="Leveque">{{cite news|last=Leveque|first=Thierry|title=French court clears weekly in Mohammad cartoon row|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/industry-france-cartoons-trial-dc-idUSL2212067120070322|accessdate=10 June 2013|work=Reuters|date=22 March 2007}}</ref> Val co-signed a petition, "le manifeste des 12", together with Bernard-Henri Lévy, Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasrin and eight others, which denounced the dangers of Islamist ideology, calling it a "new totalitarianism".<ref name="neffati"/>
In 2008, Val fired cartoonist Siné from the magazine for an alleged antisemitic comment in one of his columns.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Henry Samuel|title=French cartoonist Sine on trial on charges of anti-Semitism over Sarkozy jibe|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/4351672/French-cartoonist-Sine-on-trial-on-charges-of-anti-Semitism-over-Sarkozy-jibe.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=27 January 2009}}</ref> However, in December 2010, Siné won a 40,000-euro court judgment against ''Charlie Hebdo'' for wrongful termination.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.actuabd.com/+Le-Tribunal-de-Grande-Instance+|title=Le Tribunal de Grande Instance donne raison à Siné contre Charlie Hebdo|website=actuabd.com|date=11 December 2010|lang=fr}}</ref> In 2009, Val resigned from ''Charlie Hebdo'' after being appointed director of France Inter.<ref name="neffati"/>
Val has been described as a counter-jihad activist by Farid Hafez, who has stated that he "is seen as a kind of martyr for his activism in the fight against Islamisation",<ref name="hafez">{{cite news|url=https://qantara.de/en/article/controversial-manifesto-against-new-anti-semitism-france-cutting-suras-suit|title=Controversial manifesto against "new anti-Semitism" in France: Cutting Suras to suit|work=Qantara.de|date=18 May 2018|first=Farid|last=Hafez}}</ref> with ''Gates of Vienna'' listing him as a "victim of the 'repression of the counter-jihad movement'".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.setav.org/en/assets/uploads/2018/05/39_Perspective_French_Iniative1.pdf|title=The French Initiative to Change the Qur’an|first=Farid|last=Hafez|work=SETA Perspective|date=May 2018|number=39|page=4}}</ref>
===Later activities=== Val served as the director of public radio channel France Inter until 2014.<ref name="ouest">{{cite news|url=https://www.ouest-france.fr/medias/radio/philippe-val-ex-patron-de-france-inter-rejoint-europe-1-comme-editorialiste-5d7303d2-1169-11ec-b41b-5a71844b338c|title=Philippe Val, ex-patron de France Inter, rejoint Europe 1 comme éditorialiste|work=Ouest-France|agency=AFP|date=9 September 2021|language=fr}}</ref>
In April 2018, Val drafted a manifesto "against the new anti-Semitism", which was signed by 250 personalities in France including Nicolas Sarkozy, Manuel Valls, Jack Lang, Julia Kristeva, and Gérard Depardieu, condemning the "silent ethnic cleansing" of Jews by Muslims in certain parts of France.<ref name="neffati"/><ref name="hafez"/>
Val joined radio station Europe 1 as a weekly columnist in 2021.<ref name="ouest"/>
==Publications== * ''Vingt ans de finesse (Font & Val)'' (with Patrick Font), Le Cherche midi, 1992 * ''Allez-y, vous n'en reviendrez pas'', Le Cherche midi, 1994 * ''Allez-y, vous n'en reviendrez pas, la suite'', Le Cherche midi, 1996 * ''Fin de siècle en solde'', Le Cherche midi, 1999 * ''No Problem !'', Le Cherche midi, 2000 * ''Bonjour l'ambiance'', Le Cherche midi, 2001 * ''Bons baisers de Ben Laden'', Le Cherche midi, 2004 * ''Les années Charlie : 1969-2004'' (with Cavanna), Hoëbeke, 2004 * ''Le référendum des lâches : les arguments tabous du oui et du non à l'Europe'', Le Cherche midi, 2005 * ''Traité de savoir survivre par temps obscurs'', Éditions Grasset, 2007 * ''Les traîtres et les crétins : chroniques politiques'', Le Cherche midi, 2007 * ''Reviens, Voltaire, ils sont devenus fous'', Éditions Grasset, 2008 * ''Si ça continue, ça va pas durer'', Les Échappés -France Inter, 2009 * ''Malaise dans l’inculture'', Éditions Grasset, 2015 * ''C'était Charlie'', Éditions Grasset, 2015 * ''Cachez cette identité que je ne saurais voir'', Grasset, 2017 * ''Le nouvel antisémitisme en France'', Éditions Albin Michel, 2018 * ''Tu finiras clochard comme ton Zola'', Éditions de l’Observatoire, 2019 * ''L'Europe ou rien'', L'Observatoire, 2020 * ''Allegro Barbaro'', Éditions de l’Observatoire, 2020 * ''Dictionnaire philosophique d'un monde sans Dieu'', Éditions de l’Observatoire, 2022 * ''Rire'', Éditions de l’Observatoire, 2024
==References== {{reflist}}
{{January 2015 France attacks}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Val, Philippe}} Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:Charlie Hebdo people Category:Counter-jihad activists Category:French columnists Category:French critics of Islam Category:French satirists Category:French journalists Category:French male comedians Category:French male non-fiction writers Category:People from Neuilly-sur-Seine Category:Comedians from Île-de-France