France’s President Emmanuel Macron faced accusations of racism Friday over an alleged comment on problems in hospitals, which his office strongly denied he made, adding to controversy over an angry remark during a visit to an Indian Ocean territory ravaged by a cyclone.
With Le Monde daily printing a sequence of articles about the behind-the-scenes atmosphere at the Elysee, Macron was also accused of sexist remarks about women opposition leaders and a homophobic quip about a former prime minister he appointed himself.
Macron said that the “problem with emergency care in this country is that it’s filled with people called Mamadou”, during a discussion last year in front of his then health minister Aurelien Rousseau, according to an article in Le Monde on Wednesday.
Mamadou is a name popular among men originating from Muslim ethnic groups in West Africa.
“The Elysee strongly denies these reported remarks, which were not subjected to any verification by the presidency before publication,” an official in the presidency said.
One of the senior Le Monde reporters behind the story, Ivanne Trippenbach, wrote on X: “Le Monde stands by all of its information.”
Before the denial was issued, several left-wing politicians had strongly condemned the reported comments.
“These racist remarks by the president… are an insult to the Republic. It is an absolute disgrace,” said Manuel Bompard, coordinator of the France Unbowed party (LFI) on X, echoing the indignation of many in his hard-left movement.
“I can’t wait for him (Macron) to go.”
The alleged remarks “are damning”, added the Communist senator for Paris, Ian Brossat.
Le Monde also alleged, in a subsequent piece on Thursday, that Macron had dubbed the prime minister’s office under former premier Gabriel Attal — who is openly gay — “La cage aux folles”, a reference to a popular French farce featuring two gay men.
It also claimed he called Greens leader Marine Tondelier and Lucie Castets, who the left wanted to nominate as premier, “cocottes”, a derogatory term for women.
“Yesterday we learned of extremely shocking homophobic remarks made by the president about Gabriel Attal,” Tondelier said on X. “Today, they are sexist remarks. We are impatiently waiting for tomorrow.”
– ‘Damaging his image’ –
Macron was also facing controversy over a comment he made Thursday while on a visit to the French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, which was devastated by Cyclone Chido last weekend.
“If this was not (part of) France you would be 10,000 times deeper in the shit,” he told a crowd of people, many of whom had heckled him over France’s response to the disaster.
Greens MP Sandrine Rousseau accused Macron of going to Mayotte with “an arrogant attitude and giving lessons”.
“A president cannot say that. In which other French territory would the president lecture our fellow citizens by asking them to ‘please stop complaining about their tragedy since they are already lucky enough to be French’?,” said Socialist leader Olivier Faure on X.
Macron at the start of his presidency was notorious for his outspoken quips, once telling a young jobseeker he could find a job “just by crossing the street”.
For Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, professor of communication at Sciences Po, Macron still relishes employing “the little phrase that dominates an exchange, even if it means further damaging his already authoritarian image”.
But concerning Mayotte, “it was disastrous” because “it blurred the message of empathy and reconstruction” that was the theme of the rest of the visit, he told AFP.
The controversies come at a sensitive time for Macron, with France in political crisis following Macron’s gamble to call snap legislative elections this summer.
Macron has just appointed Francois Bayrou as his fourth prime minister of 2024.
“Everything goes there (at the Elysee) — racism, homophobia, sexism. All locked away inside a gilded palace, far from the gaze of the French, who he lectures all day long,” added left-wing MP Francois Ruffin.