“No, but don’t be offended, calm down ma’am, it’s going to be fine.” This sentence, launched by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin to the journalist of BFMTV / RMC Apolline de Malherbe, Tuesday February 8, sparked the controversy. Many political personalities and journalists castigated the behavior of the minister, judged “sexist” and “condescending”, in the middle of the presidential campaign where the theme of security is much discussed.
The journalist questioned the Minister of the Interior about the crime figures. After asking if the government had not “woke up a bit late” on security issues, she listed the offenses on the rise in 2021: violence, attacks on persons, homicides, intentional assault and battery, sexual violence, etc.
“I beg your pardon?”: the very tense exchange between Gérald Darmanin and Apolline de Malherbe pic.twitter.com/8XlHS5jzFl
— RMC (@RMCinfo) February 8, 2022
Before answering the figures, Gérald Darmanin criticized their presentation: “I thought we were on CNews, but in fact we are on BFM”, he quipped. An irony badly received by Apolline de Malherbe, whose presentation the minister described as “very fast and a bit populist”. An exit on which the journalist tried to bounce back, but the minister, again interrupted, got annoyed and launched: “No, but don’t be offended, calm down, ma’am, it’s going to be fine.”
A response that triggers the indignation of the journalist. The minister accused him of presenting only part of the truth, before highlighting the drop in thefts, the end of “urban riots” and record drug seizures. He recognized an increase in attacks on people – the subject of the initial question, retorts Apolline de Malherbe. “Do you do politics or are you a journalist?” launched the minister, who also accuses him of not “not to say a positive word about the extraordinary work of the police and gendarmes”before pointing a “responsibility” media in “the general and continuous increase in populism”in particular through a presentation “misleading” crime figures.
Many journalists, politicians and Internet users have denounced the behavior of the Minister of the Interior. On the right, Gérald Darmanin was accused respectively by Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour of not assuming “the heavy failure” and the “abyssal shipwreck” of his policy. On the left, critics have focused on the “Sexism” of the minister, like those of the boss of EELV Julien Bayou.
Obviously, @GDarmanin does not assume the serious failure of its policy and responds with inappropriate aggressiveness. The reality is however terrible: violence plagues the country and the French are its victims. https://t.co/2Ypv3I4fKM
– Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) February 8, 2022
Gerald’s attitude #Darmanin unacceptable.
But his crass sexism with regard to Apolline de Malherbe cannot make us forget the relevance of the journalist’s remark: yes the government has failed or given up on the safety of people and in particular of women. https://t.co/3tRwNFtY4B
— Julien Bayou (@julienbayou) February 8, 2022