A comedian facing criminal charges for allegedly saying that River of Love pastor Gordon Manché was “Malta’s biggest asshole” insisted in court on Friday that it was meant to make people laugh and not incite violence.
Daniel Xuereb landed in hot water in June after posting a comedy sketch on social media in which he made jokes about Manché.
Xuereb was not the only person who has been targeted by legal action following police reports filed by Manché.
Satirist Matthew Bonanno is also facing criminal charges over a Facebook comment in which he jokingly implied that the evangelical group should be carpet bombed.
Teatru Malta’s Sean Buhagiar was also questioned by the police for similarly calling Manché an “asshole” while defending Xuereb in a Facebook post.
From the witness stand, Xuereb told Magistrate Kevan Azzopardi that the point of the sketch was to make people laugh, as was his role as a comedian.
“The point was not to insult Gordon Manché but to make people laugh, which they did. I called him an asshole because he was talking about anal sex and I said that he knows what he’s talking about because he’s an arsehole,” he told the court.
Asked by the police inspector as to whether he had been serious or joking when he made the offending remarks, Xuereb replied: “Both at the same time. In comedy, you try to appear serious while joking.
”Manché also took the witness stand, saying “I always say the truth in the name of Jesus Christ” instead of the usual “I swear” when he was administered the oath by the presiding magistrate.
“I felt aggrieved because this video continues the lies, hatred and incitement to aggression against me, my family, my wife and children… the worst is that we felt threatened and in danger,” the pastor told the court, which warned him on one occasion that he was on a witness stand not a pulpit.
He said he had reported the skit to the police because “besides the obscene language used”, it had prompted comments about the Bonanno case.
He said that at the end of the video, Xuereb had also “instigated the audience to carpet bomb River of Love… I felt very threatened.”
Manché said that after the video was published online, there were times when he was insulted while walking in the street. There were occasions when people put up their middle finger at him and his family.
After the video, his life became “more stressful”.
Under cross-examination, Manché admitted that he was a well-known public figure and that it was not the first time he was on the receiving end of similar comments.
However, he insisted that he never experienced “so much hatred” after the video. He said he did not consider the word “asshole” as simply an insult but an incitement of hatred and violence.
The lawyer pointed out to the court Xuereb was charged with the offence of uttering insults and threats, and not with inciting violence.
Manché said he had never reported any artist because they called him an asshole but because they instigated violence “bombing and so on”.
Asked to confirm that the video ended with the phrase “I’m joking”, Manché replied in the affirmative but added that Xuereb then put up his middle finger.
The pastor insisted that the context of the skit meant that Xuereb was instigating violence.
“It makes no difference to me if I am called an asshole, but you must look at the context… instigating a crowd of people against me for something which I am not,” he said.
After hearing final submissions from the lawyers representing the parties, Magistrate Azzopardi adjourned the case to May.
Police inspector Eman Hayman prosecuted. Manché was assisted by lawyers Silvio Brincat and Jeanine Said while lawyers Cedric Mifsud, Kirk Brincau and Ian Barbara assisted Xuereb.