It had all started from a question of Apollo of Malherbe at the beginning of the week. In her morning show on BFM TV, the journalist asked Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin if the executive had not “woken up a little late”, with Emmanuel Macron announcing a law on internal security in the last months of the five-year term. And this is despite the fact that the figures for 2021 show an increase in attacks on people.
“I looked at your logo, I thought we were on Cnews but in fact we are on BFM”, first quipped Gérald Darmanin, before criticizing a “very fast and a little populist presentation”.
“No but don’t be offended, calm down Madam, it’s going to be fine,” the minister continued as the journalist protested considering that it was “not an answer” but “almost an offense”.
“I saw verbal jousting”
“I have not seen disrespect, I have seen verbal jousting,” Elisabeth Moreno, the minister for gender equality, assured LCI on Friday, adding that she had not seen “Gerald Darmanin being sexist” and “not seen inappropriate remarks” in this sequence.
However, the Minister considered that “if Apolline de Malherbe felt offended, I think he should apologize, because I don’t think that’s what he was trying to do,” she added.