The French presidency denied on Friday, December 20, the reported remarks by Emmanuel Macron in an investigation by Le Monde the day before. In 2023, in front of the then health minister, Aurélien Rousseau, Macron said: "The problem with emergency rooms in this country is that they're full of Mamadous," using a common West African name.
"The Elysée firmly denies these reported remarks, which were not subject to any verification by the presidency prior to publication," Macron's entourage reacted on Friday. Le Monde stands by its reporting.
Prior to this denial, there were widespread political reactions on the left. "These racist remarks by the president of the Republic, reported by the newspaper Le Monde, are an insult to the Republic. It's an absolute disgrace," wrote Manuel Bompard, the top official at La France Insoumise (radical left), on X, calling for Macron to "leave."
"Everything goes: racism, homophobia, sexism. All locked up in a gilded palace, far from the gaze of the French people, whom he lectures all day long," fustigated left-wing MP François Ruffin.
"Yesterday, we learned of extremely shocking homophobic remarks made by the president of the Republic about Gabriel Attal. Today, it's sexist remarks (...). We're impatiently waiting for tomorrow," denounced Marine Tondelier, the leader of the Greens, on X, Thursday.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.