A cartoon by the French satirical weekly portraying the deadly fire in Crans-Montana as the "comedy of the year" provokes disgust.On average, the cartoons published on the Instagram account of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo get a few hundred reactions, but a recent drawing by cartoonist Eric Salch has prompted more than 15,000 social media users to express their dismay.

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It was published as Switzerland observed a national day of mourning to commemorate the victims of the deadly fire in a bar in Crans-Montana on New Year's Eve, which killed 40 people, most of them teenagers. More than 110 others suffered injuries, some severe.

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The cartoon referring to the tragedy shows two apparently charred skiers, wrapped in bandages, skiing downhill in Crans-Montana.

The caption reads: "Les brûlés font du ski — La comédie de l'année" ("The burned go skiing — The comedy of the year"). The text is a play on the title of the French film comedy, "Les Bronzés font du ski" (1979; released in English as "French Fried Vacation 2").

The cartoon was swiftly met with fierce debate.

Outrage and criminal complaint in Switzerland

Lawmaker Benjamin Roduit of Switzerland's The Center party called for a ban on sales of Charlie Hebdo in the country. He told news site nau.ch: "At a time when young victims are fighting for their lives, this is vile and unacceptable. It violates human dignity. The words fail me to describe that image."

Swiss author Beatrice Riand and her husband Stephane, a lawyer, filed a criminal complaint. They argue that Salch and Charlie Hebdo were in violation of Article 135 of the Swiss Criminal Code, which penalizes the production and distribution of violent depictions that grievously violate human dignity.

Riand told Swiss broadcaster RTS, "I find this deeply abhorrent. Freedom of expression has limits. They're mocking the victims. The question is: Does human dignity take precedence over freedom of expression, or not?"

An attorney for the victims, Jean-Luc Addor, described the image to nau.ch as "deeply shocking and in unimaginably poor taste," though he doubted a complaint would succeed. "The readers of the magazine should be imposing the sanction," he said.

Angry reactions on social media

Thousands of commenters also voiced their outrage online. One Instagram comment read, "Freedom of expression justifies nothing. Shame on you for what you've done; you're pathetic." Another comment said, "When you buried your dead, people cried with you… and when others mourn their children, you turn it into a joke. It's disgraceful! Where's your humanity?"

The latter comment is a reference to the 2015 terrorist attack on the French satirical weekly. Islamist terrorists stormed the Charlie Hebdo newsroom and killed 12 people, including five well-known cartoonists and the magazine's editors. The attackers targeted the magazine for reprinting cartoons from a Danish newspaper that depicted the Prophet Muhammad. Europe showed broad solidarity with Charlie Hebdo in reaction to the attacks.

The magazine has now once again succeeded in drawing attention with provocation. Editor-in-chief Gerard Biard defended the cartoon on RTS's "Forum" program: "Of course it can be shocking, but satire is meant to shock." He said the magazine was not mocking the victims, but highlighting the absurdity of the tragedy.

Biard acknowledged that the artist had "gone pretty far," but added, "dark humor does not have to be pleasant."

Satire: What's not allowed?

The debate centers on a core question: Is there anything that shouldn't be a target for satire? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines satire as "wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly (as of a person, government, or society)," and more broadly, as "humor that criticizes weakness or wrongdoing."

For many, the cartoon about the fire crosses a line — and that reaction is what was intended. Supporters of an uncompromising approach to satire often point to Charlie Hebdo's long tradition of provocative, often taboo-breaking images, albeit grounded in legal protections for freedom of the press and free expression.

French cartoonist Patrick Lamassoure, president of the international press cartoonists' network Cartooning for Peace, told DW last year on the 10th anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack: "Anything I say or do can upset someone — anything. The only thing that can set a limit is the law, since we've all agreed to it."

Three days after the initial drawing, Charlie Hebdo published another Salch cartoon on Instagram, mocking Switzerland's outrage.

The headline asks: "Is it permissible to insult the Swiss?" followed by, "The editorial staff wiped out by crossbow." It shows two enraged crossbowmen — the crossbow being a symbol for Switzerland — killing members of the satirical weekly's editorial staff, evoking memories of the 2015 attacks.

This article was originally written in German.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 15, 2026 05:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).