“Crude and uninhibited racism”: Arcom seized for comments made on CNews about the mayor of Saint-Denis

“This crude and uninhibited racism is intolerable. » This Saturday, Mathilde Panot, the head of the rebellious deputies in the National Assembly, denounced the comments made on CNews about Bally Bagayoko, the new LFI mayor of Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis).

“On CNews, the mayor of Saint-Denis Bally Bagayoko is compared to a monkey and a tribal chief », she was indignant on X, castigating “words (which) dishonor France” and announcing a report to Arcom, the audiovisual and digital regulator.

The comments to which the member refers date from Friday. They were held by Jean Doridot, a psychologist, on the set of Vincent Bolloré’s channel. The debate then focuses on the first days of Bally Bagayoko as councilor in a town that CNews describes as a “laboratory” of La France insoumise.

The mayor is “trying to push the limits? », asks the presenter to Jean Doridot. “Surely there is a bit of that,” he replies. Now, it’s important to remember that homo sapiens – we are social mammals and members of the great ape family. And therefore, in every community, in every tribe – our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived in tribes – there is a leader whose mission is to establish his authority.”

And the columnist continues: “And there, what is revealed with the election of Mr. Bally Bagayoko in Saint-Denis is that it still reminds us that a mayor in a municipality has a lot of power.”

“Now, (…) no one can decide like that, the act of the prince, in the time of kings, I dismiss such and such mayor,” he added, while the question of sanctions was raised on set against Bally Bagayoko. “Our system is entirely capable of holding people who are not friends of the traditional Republic to account. »

Contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the management of CNews did not respond.

“Garbage news still on loop”

“Yet another confirmation that this channel is a racist cesspool,” communist senator Ian Brossat commented on X, also announcing a “new report” to Arcom.

“Trash news still on repeat in its racism against the new mayors and precisely against Bally Bagayoko,” environmentalist deputy Léa Balage El Mariky also wrote on X. “Report to Arcom immediately. Support Mr. Mayor in the face of this crass racism. »

Bally Bagayoko found himself at the heart of a controversy in recent days after estimating that civil servants not in agreement with the city’s political project “will leave”. “It’s not the fact that we will put them outside, it’s because they will have a mobility that is completely natural,” he added.

The Minister of Action and Public Accounts, David Amiel, immediately sent a letter to the newly elected official to remind him that he could not part with agents who disagree with his policy.