A fine of 20,000 euros required against Eric Zemmour for his release on a first name “insult to France”

Eric Zemmour’s troubles with the law are enriched by a new episode. Tried in Paris for public insult of a racial nature, after having qualified in 2018 the first name of the ex-columnist of the Canal + group Hapsatou Sy of “insult to France” during the recording in public of a program, the candidate eliminated in the first round of the last presidential election did not appear at the hearing.

The production company of Thierry Ardisson’s program “Les Terriens du dimanche” had finally cut the extract in which Eric Zemmour declared that the first name of Hapsatou Sy was an “insult to France”, in particular because of a “high risk of legal condemnation”. The sequence as broadcast on C8, and viewed by the court, stops on exchanges on the choice of first names.

“Something Unpleasant”

Hapsatou Sy reminds Eric Zemmour of his first name, who retorts: “Your mother was wrong”. “And what would you like my name to be?” “, bounces the columnist. “Corinne”, replies the guest of the show, recorded in public. In a following face-to-face, cut during the editing, the columnist declares: “What you have just said is an insult to France”. “Mademoiselle, it’s your first name that is an insult to France,” says Eric Zemmour in return.

The columnist had broadcast on social networks a video filmed by a make-up artist containing this cut passage and filed a complaint with a civil action. For the defense of the polemicist, these comments having been cut during the editing, they cannot be continued. Eric Zemmour’s lawyer, Me Olivier Pardo, also argued that his client’s assertion, which Hapsatou Sy may have felt as “something unpleasant”, did not constitute in law “an racial slur”. He pleaded for release.

“You cannot insult under the pretext of freedom of expression”

For the prosecution, Eric Zemmour, a “regular of controversies” who “controls his word”, was indeed guilty of this offense. “The limits of freedom of expression have been crossed,” said the prosecutor. She demanded a fine of 20,000 euros against Eric Zemmour, i.e. 100 day-fines of 200 euros, which can turn into imprisonment in the event of non-payment. The verdict will be given on January 12.

“We cannot insult under the pretext of freedom of expression”, for his part declared Hapsatou Sy, 41, who described at the bar the “wave of hatred” which she had suffered for four years. “Put in the closet” after this show, the ex-columnist had finally resigned from the Canal + group in August 2021. She indicated that she was now a “cosmetics entrepreneur”.

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