"France has made hundreds of Oradour-sur-Glane in Algeria": Arcom will investigate the remarks of Jean-Michel Aphatie

Contacted by Le Parisien this Wednesday, Arcom (Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority) confirmed that it had been notified through reports and will investigate the sequence as part of its duties.

During this appearance on RTL, Jean-Michel Aphatie debated with Florence Portelli, vice-president of Les Républicains in the Île-de-France region, in particular the case of Algerian influencers . Jean-Michel Aphatie then evokes a context and the "guilt" of France towards Algeria. "We massacred them and we never acknowledged it," says the political journalist.

"You know, every year in France, we commemorate what happened in Oradour-sur-Glane, that is to say the massacre of an entire village. We have committed hundreds of them in Algeria. Are we aware of this?" asks Jean-Michel Aphatie.

Comments that made Thomas Sotto, co-host of the segment, react: "Jean-Michel, we didn't do Oradour-sur-Glane in Algeria! Did we behave like Nazis in Algeria?" "The Nazis didn't exist. We didn't behave like Nazis. The Nazis behaved like we did in Algeria. How many women, how many children, how many villages were massacred?" Jean-Michel Aphatie replied.

"It's horrible to say that!" Florence Portelli complains indignantly. "You don't know the history of the conquest of Algeria by France at all. You don't know at all that the villagers were fleeing the columns of French soldiers...", continues the journalist, referring to the "smoke screens" operated by General Bugeaud during the campaign to conquer Algeria in 1845. A historical fact and a line that the columnist has already held during other television programs, notably where he accused the French general of "having invented the gas chambers".

"What you have just done is an insult to the French people! It is horrible to compare this to Nazism (...) The Algerian regime is today using the colonial past rather than denouncing what happened with radical Islamism and Islamist terrorism in the 1990s. By doing this, you are endorsing propaganda that is disseminated by the Algerian regime and which spews its hatred against France morning, noon and night," reacted Florence Portelli live in front of a panel stunned by the development of the discussion.

The debate then flourished on social networks, where some even called for Jean-Michel Aphatie to resign. The emotion caused by the sequence was quickly relayed by political leaders, with Éric Ciotti accusing the columnist of being an... "Algerian influencer". "I thought Bruno Retailleau had expelled all Algerian influencers, but apparently there is still one on RTL," he commented on X.

"The comparison made by Jean-Michel Aphatie is an odious falsification of history and an insult to all those repatriated from Algeria. In the midst of open conflict with Algeria, using the language of the FLN raises the question of the independence of this so-called journalist who never misses an opportunity to sully the reputation and past of France," also reacted strongly to the RN European deputy Jordan Bardella.

Jean-Michel Aphatie took up his pen to respond to Éric Ciotti himself. “Ah ah… Éric Ciotti’s humor. I didn’t know it existed. You have to delve into books to understand the misfortune that the French people have sometimes spread. Refusing to do so is to deny yourself knowledge of the history of your own country,” he replied to the deputy of the Union of the Right for the Republic.

In another tweet about X, the journalist invited Internet users to listen to the entire recording of the show.