A video by Poupette Kenza, aka Kenza Benchrif, set the internet ablaze this Wednesday: “I tell you, at least it’s clear and clear, I am pro-Palestinian. I don’t work for any Zionist or Jewish person […] I don’t have any partners, any agents who are Jewish or anything.” Facing the camera, the influencer shared this message with her 1.2 million subscribers on Instagram. The video was quickly relayed by Internet users on other social networks such as TikTok and X (formerly Twitter). “How is it wrong to have Jewish friends or colleagues?” asks a woman on platform.
Given the extent of the controversy, Poupette Kenza published a final video on Instagram on Wednesday, before deactivating her account: “I expressed myself badly, I said that I did not work with Jews. No, girls, I have nothing against Jews, I have nothing against Christians, I have nothing against Muslims. It’s just against the Zionists and those who finance the genocide […] against those who condone and defend it. If there are dolls who are Jewish, who follow me and who are against everything that is happening, there is no problem, welcome to the team. “I deeply apologize if my words may have offended [sic]. That was not the intention,” she adds in another publication.
This Friday, the influencer appears in tears in a new video published on TikTok. “The turn and the scale that this is taking is absolutely scandalous,” she says in tears. “The comments made are not a thousandth of everything that is said about the Muslims of the world, on all TV sets, the government, the deputies.” She claims to have received numerous messages “from Zionists” containing “insults, threats and the fact that missiles will be sent in my name”. “For them, unity is strength, unlike us, the rebeus (Arabs, Editor’s note)”, proclaims Poupette Kenza, who deplores that no “no one supports [her]”. “There is no Muslim who picked up their phone and said ‘we understood what she said’.” “You saw me make a gourde [sic]”, adds the influencer who accuses “the Zionists of making it a state subject”.
Faced with this situation, the government hastened to react. “Boycotting women and men because of their identity or religion is obviously illegal. Faced with anti-Semitism and racism, I will not let anything go,” says Aurore Bergé, minister responsible for equality between women and men and the fight against discrimination, on X. The executive reported the influencer’s comments to the Interministerial Delegation for the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hatred (Dilcrah) which was “responsible for making a report to the public prosecutor” . The Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) also clarified this Thursday that it “filed a complaint against Poupette Kenza for inciting hatred and discrimination”. “Such hateful remarks broadcast to more than a million subscribers endanger Jews,” points out the organization fighting racism and anti-Semitism.
Last year, the influencer had already been at the heart of controversies when the Fraud Repression fined her 50,000 euros for misleading commercial practice. “They are big thieves,” she said on Snapchat. In detail, the Fraud Repression accused the young woman of having advertised a tooth whitener banned for sale in France, all without indicating that it was a commercial publication for which the brand paid her.
In March 2023, suspicions even arose about child abuse by the influencer on her son, barely a year old. The 23-year-old young woman defended herself on the show “TPMP” on the C8 channel and then on YouTube. Many fans then posted comments of support: “I worry about you”, “your passages in tears moved me” or even “I wish your children, your family and yourself to find peace “.