Charlie Hebdo comments on Romanians’ reaction to Simona Halep caricature

A recent editorial published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo comments on the Romanians’ reaction to its caricature of Simona Halep.

The caricature was highly criticized by many Romanians on social media. It shows Halep holding up her recently won Roland Garros trophy and shouting “Old iron! Old iron!”.

The magazine notes that Romania, a country that offered the world personalities such as Mircea Eliade or Emil Cioran (“le poilant Mircea Eliade et le désopilant Cioran”) got upset because of the drawing representing the tennis player. This happened because Romanians, just like the rest of Europeans, lack humor, the magazine argued. Humor, which should bring people together, becomes an issue of discord, the publication wrote.

The Charlie Hebdo editorial was translated into Romanian by journalist and writer Dan Alexe, who published it on his blog. He also distributed the magazine’s caricature of Halep.