France Investigation

French commentator Éric Zemmour accused of sexual violence against women

On April 24th 2021 a female councillor publicly accused French journalist and polemicist Éric Zemmour of having forcibly kissed her. Mediapart has gathered the accounts of several other women who have also condemned the actions and behaviour of the journalist from Le Figaro newspaper and CNews news channel, whom some on the far-right want to be a candidate in next year's presidential election in France. When approached by Mediapart, Zemmour declined to respond to the allegations. Lénaïg Bredoux, David Perrotin and Marine Turchi report.

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“Hair is a trace, a marker, a symbol. Of our caveman past, of our brutishness, our virility. Of the differences between the sexes. It reminds us that virility goes hand in hand with violence, that man is a sexual predator, a conqueror.” These words are those of the well-known journalist and essayist Éric Zemmour, who works for Le Figaro newspaper and CNews news channel, and who has several times been convicted by French courts for inciting hatred towards Muslims.

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