A French sports activities journalist has gone viral after venting his anger on-line following the success of the far-right in Sunday’s elections.
Benjamin Bernard, an on-air reporter for beIN Sport, posted on X (previously Twitter) that there have been “12 million SOBs in our nation. That’s it, it needed to come out.”
Bernard was referring to the voters of the far-right Nationwide Rally (RN) occasion and its allies, which had been the winners in Sunday’s first spherical of voting for France‘s parliament, with 33 p.c of the favored vote. The leftwing New Widespread Entrance (NFP) alliance got here in second with 28 p.c, whereas French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Collectively coalition reached 20 p.c, in keeping with official tallies. The end result marks the primary time the RN, headed by far-right populist Marine Le Pen, has gained greater than 20 p.c of the vote in a parliamentary election. Macron referred to as the snap vote after final month’s European elections, which noticed the RN surge in reputation.
The ultimate outcomes are nonetheless removed from sure and the precise make-up of France’s parliament can be decided by the second spherical of runoff voting on July 7. Prior to now, the standard right- and left-wing events have struck agreements for his or her candidates to face down from the runoffs to keep away from splitting the vote towards the Nationwide Rally and create a unified “republican entrance.”
Bernard, who studies on U.S. sports activities for beIN, was removed from the one public determine to touch upon the outcomes. Alexis Brézet, editorial director of French each day Le Figaro referred to as the outcomes “a French tragedy,” placing the blame squarely on Macron for throwing the nation into turmoil. Regardless of the end result on Sunday’s second spherical, wrote Brézet, the end result can be a “regime disaster. Thanks, Macron!” His counterpart at La Montagne, Stéphane Vergeade, famous that Macron “misplaced his wager” in calling the shock election, whereas Dov Alfon, at Libération, stated the French public maintain Marcon “answerable for this chaos.”
However the sport reporter’s bluntness drew a direct response, and a wave of criticism from far-right supporters. Bernard ultimately deleted the submit however later tweeted he solely did so to not implicate his employer in what was a private outburst. “My opinion, my opinions are my very own,” he wrote. “However the tweet that induced a lot response was additionally reducing me to their degree. Hate stirs up hate.” He didn’t apologize for his authentic assertion, noting that “France is the nation of human rights and should stay so. My coronary heart bleeds, that’s it.”