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 that there have been “12 million SOBs in our country. That’s it, it had to come out.”
Bernard was referring to the voters of the far-right Nationwide Rally (RN) get together and its allies, which have been the winners in Sunday’s first spherical of voting for France‘s parliament, with 33 percent of the popular vote. The leftwing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance came in second with 28 percent, while French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Collectively coalition reached 20 %, based on official tallies. The end result marks the primary time the RN, headed by far-right populist Marine Le Pen, has received greater than 20 % of the vote in a parliamentary election. Macron known as the snap vote after final month’s European elections, which noticed the RN surge in recognition.
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 run-off voting on July 7. Prior to now, the standard proper and leftwing 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 front”.
Bernard, who reviews 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 day by day Le Figaro known 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 crisis. Thank you, Macron!” His counterpart at La Montagne, Stéphane Vergeade, famous that Macron “lost his bet” in calling the shock election, whereas Dov Alfon, at Libération, mentioned the French public maintain Marcon “responsible 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 put up however later tweeted he did so solely in order to not implicate his employer in what was a private outburst. “My opinion, my opinions are my own,” he wrote. “But the tweet that caused so much reaction was also lowering me to their level. Hate stirs up hate.” He didn’t apologize for unique assertion, noting that “France is the country of human rights and must remain so. My heart bleeds, that’s it.”
