Pro-coup TV channel terminates contract of comic presenter

Egyptian CBC TV has terminated the contract of comedian Bassem Youssef, who is well known for having caused great controversy during the yearlong rule of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.

Youssef used to present a comic show called “Al-Barnamej”, or “The Programme”, in which he frequently criticised Morsi. However after the military coup on 3 July, Youssef stopped appearing on the pro-coup TV channel.

After the coup the comic presenter was severely criticised by Morsi’s supporters, who challenged him to appear on the screen criticising the coup’s leader General Abdul-Fattah Al-Sisi as he once did President Morsi.

However he did not reappear on screen. And now, according to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masriyoun, the CBC administration has completely terminated Youssef’s contract and said that he would never appear on its screen again.

His termination came only days after news about his plans to renew his show.

Al-Masriyoun newspaper described what happened to Youssef under the title of “The Coup Eats its Sons”.

The newspaper pointed out that this is the second such example of this, as the first was the closure of Al-Faraeen TV owned by journalist Tawfiq Okasha, who once candidly threatened to assassinate President Morsi on air. When he criticised Al-Sisi, Okasha was immediately taken off air and his channel was closed.