Celebrity, Atle Antonsen | Drops the Antonsen case: Thinks it was a bad attempt at satire

On Friday afternoon, the decision was made that the case against actor and comedian Atle Antonsen (53) be dropped, once again.

It was VG who first mentioned the case.

According to court documents that Nettavisen has had access to, the attorney general drops the case against Antonsen on the basis that “the case is dead” and is considered “finished”.

On Friday evening, Antonsen’s defender told NTB that the 53-year-old is relieved to be believed.

In the decision, it appears that the attorney general believes the 53-year-old’s statements against Sumaya Jirde Ali (24) in October 2022 were “a poorly successful attempt at satire on racism”.

In addition, it says that there are several “points in the case that indicate that the statement was not seriously intended”, and refers to the statements from Antonsen.

– The Attorney General has not accepted the complaint and that means that the Attorney General’s decision will remain as the final decision, says assistant attorney Olle Nohlin to VG.

Opening for a comeback

In October, comedian and actor Atle Antonsen was reported for hate speech by debater Sumaya Jirde Ali (24). At Bar Boca in Oslo, he made racist statements and behaved embarrassingly towards the 24-year-old.

As a result, the 53-year-old lost several jobs, including the role of presenter in the TV series “Kongen Befaler”.

Together with Johan Golden (48), Antonsen has led the radio program “The Mission” on P4 for a number of years, but he was released from the program in the wake of the police report.

Comedian Dag Sørås therefore stepped in as a substitute until further notice. Shortly after the news of the closure of the case on Friday afternoon, P4 opens up the possibility for Atle Antonsen to return to “The Mission”.

Facing Campaign, the radio channel hints that Antonsen may return:

– We are planning for Atle to return to the Misjonen studio, says the press officer in the P4 group to the newspaper.

Furthermore, program editor in P4, Anders Opsahl, says that when a comeback will take place has not yet been decided.

– We will use the nearest time to figure it out together, Opsahl says to Kampanje.

Abandoned for the second time

However, this is not the first time the case against the comedian has been dropped. Just over a week after Jirde Ali spoke about the incident for the first time in a Facebook post, the case was dropped by Oslo’s state prosecutor’s office.

The case was investigated by the police in Oslo, but the state prosecutor’s office dismissed the case based on the state of the evidence.

The closure prompted several people to react, including Hatem Ben Mansour, general manager at the Anti-Racist Centre.

– If I’m being completely honest, it’s a very strange decision. I will write a complaint on Ali’s behalf, he told NRK in November.