France’s right-wing news and talk channel CNews has been accused of racism after commenters evoked apes and tribes in discussions on a newly elected Black Paris region mayor.
The accusations come just one month after audiovisual watchdog Arcom upheld complaints that two separate broadcasts on the Canal Plus-owned station had incited discrimination against people of Algerian origin living in France and Palestinians and fined it €100,000.
Left-wing politician Bally Bagayoko, who was elected mayor for the outer-Paris towns of Saint Denis and Pierrefitte-sur-Seine in the first round of municipal elections on March 16, was the subject of a debate on CNews on Friday evening.
The politician, who was born in France to parents of Malian descent, is seen as a breath of fresh air by his supporters in Saint Denis and Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, where close to 30% of the population live below the poverty line.
With life-long connections to the area, he is already making waves with policy annoncements such as his ambition to disarm the local police and in particular stop the use of rubber bullets.
Bagayoko’s win in the municipality of 150,000 people is also seen as significant for the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party of which he is a member, as its biggest urban victory to date.
In answer to a question on whether Bagayoko “was trying to push boundaries” in Friday’s CNews debate, psychologist Jean Doridot turned to animalization and tribal tropes.
“There’s probably some truth to that,” he said, adding: “Now, it’s important to remember that as Homo sapiens, we are social mammals and belong to the great ape family. And consequently, in every community, in every tribe—our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived in tribes—there is a leader whose role is to establish their authority.”
A day later, in another CNews discussion on Bagayoko’s arrival in power, philosopher Michel Onfray took umbrage with Bagayoko’s use of the word “allegiance” and suggestion his administration would separate from people “stuck in the past” in his inauguration speech.
Onfray suggested this was a “very tribal” approach which flew in the face of France’s constitution under which elected leaders represent all their constituents regardless of their political beliefs.
“But we’re not in a primitive tribe, as Darwin described it, in which there is a dominant male who decides everything,” he said.
Bagayoko said over the weekend that the comments were clearly racist in nature and that he would be filing an official complaint.
LFI parliamentary group leader Mathilde Panot also denounced the comments as “blatant and unashamed racism” and said she would be lodging a complaint with Arcom.
In an interview with public radio station France Inter on Monday morning, Bagayoko said he was disappointed that the presidential palace had not condemned the comments, although Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez and Culture Minister Catherine Pégard both denounced them.
Bagayoko announced he would be organizing an anti-racism, discrimination and hate demonstration in front of the Saint-Denis town hall on April 4.
France’s Movement Against racism and for Friendship between Peoples (Mrap) later announced it had also lodged an official complaint against CNews and called on Arcom to investigate the comments.
Both Doridot and Onfray have denied their comments were racist in intent, while CNews issued a statement on Monday declaring it formally denied that “any racist remarks were made’ in the broadcasts.
The channel said that the extracts relayed on social networks had been cut and taken out of context, with the aim of whipping up controversy.
“By misusing this content to incriminate the channel, some actors are fostering a climate of distrust and tension that undermines the sincerity of public debate and republican impartiality,” the channel said. “CNews strongly reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the fight against all forms of racism.”
The statement did little to diffuse the row.
In a comment piece on the site of the Liberation newspaper, Dominique Sopo, president of French anti-racism group SOS Racisme, which has also contacted Arcom, asked: “How long is CNews going to continue insulting Blacks, immigrants and their children, as well as Muslims and Arabs on a daily basis?”
“In both of the offending segments the remarks amount to animalization and a denial of civilization. There’s no need to even mention Mr. Bagayoko’s skin color. Those on set and the audience are sufficiently aware of the racist nature of the tirades.”
