In an open letter published Wednesday in the French magazine Nouvel Obs, Charlie Hebdo co-founder Henri Roussel laid blame for the terrorist attack squarely at the feet of slain editor Stéphane Charbonnier, declaring to his fallen colleague: "I really hold it against you."
Specifically, Roussel accused Charbonnier of publishing unnecessarily provocative editorial cartoons, an act that would "drag the team into overdoing it" with controversial illustrations. Citing the previous, cartoon-fueled firebombing of the Hebdo offices in 2011 and a second Muhammad cartoon scandal in 2012, Roussel deemed Charbonnier both an "amazing lad" and a "blockhead."
Charlie Hebdo's longtime lawyer countered with a letter to Nouvel Obs, complaining "Charb has not yet even been buried and Obs finds nothing better to do that [sic] to publish a polemical and venomous piece on him."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How are ICE’s recruitment woes complicating Trump’s immigration agenda?TODAY’S BIG QUESTION Lowered training standards and ‘athletically allergic’ hopefuls are getting in the way of the White House plan to turn the Department of Homeland Security into a federal police force
-
What is a bubble? Understanding the financial term.the explainer An AI bubble burst could be looming
-
France makes first arrests in Louvre jewels heistSpeed Read Two suspects were arrested in connection with the daytime theft of royal jewels from the museum
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
