Palais de Tokyo Patron Is Swiftly Dismissed After Posting a Bizarre Rant Against Teen Activist Greta Thunberg on Facebook

Bernard Chenebault has been fired from his position as president
of Friends of the Palais de Tokyo, a patrons group dedicated to
supporting Europe’s largest contemporary art center, after he
posted shocking comments on social media about teenage climate
activist Greta Thunberg.

Emma Lavigne, the recently appointed president of the Palais de
Tokyo, moved swiftly to dismiss the patron, who called
Thunberg—the 16-year-old phenomenon who inspired worldwide climate
strikes last week—a “madwoman” and said he hoped that a mentally
unstable person might shoot her.

Soon after Chenebault posted his comments on Saturday, the Paris
museum took to Twitter to distance itself from the patron.

“We disapprove of these words and dissociate ourselves from
this position, formulated in a personal capacity and which does not
engage the Palais de Tokyo or the Friends of the Palais de Tokyo,”
the museum said as part of a series of tweets. The patrons group
plans to meet as soon as possible to elect a new president,
according to the museum.

La présidente du Palais de Tokyo, Emma
Lavigne, a appris avec stupéfaction ce matin les propos du
président des Amis du Palais de Tokyo, Bernard Chenebault. 1/3

— Palais de Tokyo (@PalaisdeTokyo) September 29, 2019

Chenebault, who spearheaded community outreach for the patron
network, followed up his bizarre rant with an apology—also posted
to Facebook, according to
Artforum. “I deeply regret these words that have
struck many people, to whom I apologize for the outrage they have
felt,” he wrote. “Of course, I don’t call for the murder of Greta
Thunberg and ask you to believe that in Facebook’s ‘game,’ my words
totally slipped out of my thought and intention. These personal
words have no connection with the association of Amis du Palais de
Tokyo, nor with the Palais de Tokyo, which I regret to have
embarrassed.”

The Artforum report also noted a 2017 social
media post in which Chenebault likened a mural by Cameroonian
artist Barthélemy Toguo due to be installed at a metro station
in Paris’s Château Rouge neighborhood to giving “pearls to swine”
and noted the neighborhood’s Muslim population. That comment was
unearthed by French journalist Magali Lesauvage, but has since been
deleted.

Neither the Palais de Tokyo nor Chenebault immediately responded
to a request for further comment.

The post Palais de Tokyo Patron Is Swiftly Dismissed After
Posting a Bizarre Rant Against Teen Activist Greta Thunberg on
Facebook appeared first on artnet News.