“The rich vote!” Racists and golfers too. And you ? » Here is the message posted on X by Mathilde Panot, president of the La France Insoumise group at the National Assembly. A tweet relaying the party’s poster campaign at the origin of a controversy after the indignation of the French Golf Federation and this Tuesday of the French National Olympic Sports Committee (CNOSF).
“We were surprised – and let’s say it quite shocked – to see that you assimilate golf players to categories of populations that you do not seem to hold in great esteem” wrote Pascal Grizot, boss of French golf in an open letter on the website of the French Golf Federation (FFG). A position subsequently supported by the CNOSF, which referred to “unbearable assertions, unworthy of political debate in a democracy, which equate golfers and racists”.
Main target of criticism, Mathilde Panot “only relayed, like many others, a campaign of the movement”, we are told by those around her. On Insoumission, the LFI media and news platform, we explain that we associate “golf, through a touch of humor and a desire for civic information, with racists and the rich. »
“If we do nice things, no one talks about it”
A taboo subject at LFI? No way. Contacted this Tuesday, Antoine Léaument, deputy for Essonne, wanted to return to this controversy. “We don’t put the rich and the racists and the golfers on the same level. We made separate posters. Besides, on the leaflet that we distribute in the markets, we only talk about the rich and the racists,” the LFI elected official explains to Le Parisien.
There is no question of returning to this campaign. “I don’t see why we would apologize. We say “golfers vote”, it is not an insult”, adds the MP who pleads “neither error nor clumsiness”. “Perhaps we should have put “people who take private jets”, but it was a bit long on a poster,” he smiles. What we wanted to say is that those who have non-ecological practices vote… The goal is to get people talking. If we do nice things, no one talks about it. »
Antoine Léaument goes further and assures that this controversy is even “positive” for the campaign: “If the CNOSF talks about it, so much the better. I’m very happy that this is getting people talking about voter registration. You have to take it with a smile. If there are some who can say to themselves, I’m going to register on the lists, and hey, I’m going to play golf… Everyone is a winner.”
Opposed in a debate to Pascal Grizot on BFMTV in the middle of the day, Antoine Léaument assures that he will meet the president of the FFG to discuss golf and ecology. For his part, the boss of French golf will be on the set of Touche Pas à Mon Poste this Tuesday to return to this controversy.
