An Ivorian TV presenter has been suspended after inviting a convicted rapist in his prime-time show and asked him to stimulate a rape using a mannequin.
Ivory Coast’s independent communications council announced that they had suspended Yves de Mbella’s presenter for 30 days.
The communication council noted that the presenter’s show used obscene language, condoned rape, and attacked women’s dignity.
The presenter’s media house, Nouvelle Chaine Ivoirienne’s private television station, also apologized for airing such content and canceled the final episode of the presenter’s show.
Through his social media page, de Mbella also asked for forgiveness from the public and rape victims.
“I’m sincerely sorry to have shocked everyone while trying to raise awareness,” de Mbella wrote on Facebook as reported by CNN. “I made an error.”
“I’m also sorry for everything that was said or done during that sequence of the program yesterday that hurt…I beg for forgiveness from all victims of rape,” he added.
The presenter asked his guest to demonstrate how he raped women using a female mannequin in a show segment.
At some point during the show, the presenter even helped the guest adjust the mannequin. He further asked the ex-convict how he chose his victims, whether he preferred skinny or big-bodied women and whether the victims enjoyed abusing them.
The action by the presenter criticism among social media users which Ivory Coast and other parts of West and Central Africa.