You are the trigger of the hardest thing I have ever endured in my entire life.
Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge recently stopped by Patrick Lagacé‘s show on 98.5 FM, where he was invited to discuss his new project—or more precisely, his bid to return to the media after the controversy that erupted in March 2024, which cost him his place in the industry.
Shoot ton scoop
Has you seen anything? Discretion guaranteed.
From the very first moments, as Patrick Lagacé asked his guest how he was doing, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge replied that he was doing very well, but that he would be even better in a minute, and stood up to join the host behind his microphone.
While Lagacé wore a look of astonishment, he warned his guest that listeners would not be able to hear him. Lemay-Thivierge immediately replied that it was “okay,” before offering a handshake and moving to stand in front of Lagacé’s mic. Then, in rapid succession, he dropped a line that would not leave anyone indifferent.
“(…) I just want to tell you that I forgive you,” he declares, as Lagacé lets out a wry laugh, visibly surprised, and asks him to sit in front of his own microphone and explain why he forgave him.
Patrick Lagacé Called Out by His Guest
“(…) It’s because you’re the trigger of the hardest thing I’ve lived through in my career… because of the article you published in La Presse with Hugo Dumas, explaining that I risked losing my job because I wasn’t vaccinated… I lost almost all my contracts, I almost lost my wife, I nearly lost my own life…,” he states, asking the host how he saw the situation and why he wrote that article in the first place.
Restaurant and Vaccine Passport: A Contested Version, a Reignited Debate
“I see it differently. I didn’t go into a restaurant asking for special treatment—that is, being served without my vaccination passport,” he reiterates.
Guillaume denied the claims, arguing that that isn’t what happened. Patrick Lagacé then clarified that he wanted the facts clearly established, before pressing his guest with this question: “Is the problem the person reporting it or the person who asked for special treatment?”
“There are consequences that come with our actions. (…) that you chose not to be vaccinated is one thing. There are plenty of other artists, by the way, whom we knew weren’t vaccinated, and we didn’t talk about it. Why? Because there wasn’t a problem,” Lagacé asserts.
Seeking a Scapegoat and Settling a… Conflict?
“I need to understand: what did I do to you?” Guillaume presses, while the journalist replies that he did nothing to him and that he has nothing against him.
“But why, first of all, did you attack me like that? How necessary was it…?” Lemay-Thivierge questions.
“Guillaume, you were the architect of your own misfortunes,” the host counters, while Guillaume warns him.
“(…) I’m just telling you to be careful not to do it again in other circles; not everyone could weather it… A microphone, Patrick, is a weapon, you need to know how to use it,” warns the man who, in an interview, once compared the media world to “a small mafia.”
“Being a public figure comes with responsibilities; there are things you cannot do, unlike when you’re a private person,” attempts to explain Patrick.
“I would never have done to you what you did to me,” declares Guillaume, adding that he believes Patrick Lagacé wrote the article out of a sense of duty, and probably with the intention… of helping someone.
A Journalist’s Job: Behind the Scenes of an Article
“When you write a piece like this, one that will impact people’s lives, and it wasn’t the first time, of course you think about it… we’re not psychopaths. In the end, what we ask ourselves is: Is this in the public interest? And sometimes, after days, weeks, or months of digging, we tell ourselves: You know what? This isn’t in the public interest… And in your case, at that moment, we concluded that it was,” he explains, while Guillaume reiterates that he wanted to tell him, right to his face, that he forgave him.
Guillaume Returns to the Charge… with His Forgiveness
“I didn’t need your forgiveness,” Patrick makes it clear.
Visibly eager to know whether the man at the center of several controversies acknowledged any part of responsibility for what has happened so far, the journalist asks him what his own share was.
“My share of responsibility is that I was too… spontaneous and didn’t think through the consequences long enough, given that I acted in an impulsive and spontaneous way (…),” Guillaume responds, insisting that, in his view, his fault would have been failing to use a strategy, like someone who has worked in the media for a long time.
In the end, it became clear that the host and his guest were not pursuing the same objective. The interview, which stretched to more than 15 minutes and centered on the announced topic—his new project—really only dominated the conversation for a few minutes, overshadowed by tensions tied to the past.
This content was created with the help of AI.
