Yassine Belattar returns to the Élysée. The controversial host and comedian played master of ceremonies in 2018 during the presentation of Emmanuel Macron’s strategy for the suburbs – the president had above all, that day, buried the report presented by Jean-Louis Borloo . Five years later, Belattar was received by two advisors to Emmanuel Macron, according to information from L’Express of which Le Figaro obtained confirmation. The interview took place a few days before the big march against anti-Semitism on Sunday, November 12, with former journalist Bruno Roger-Petit, memory advisor to Emmanuel Macron, and prefect Frédéric Rose, interior and security advisor.
According to L’Express, Yassine Belattar is seen at the Élysée as “a thermometer” making it possible to take the pulse of a part of society, in a context of tensions against a backdrop of conflict in the Middle East, and while Emmanuel Macron is particularly concerned about the repercussions of the war in France. Contacted by Le Figaro, the two advisors did not wish to react.
Accustomed to spats on social networks, Yassine Belattar was sentenced on September 18 by the Paris criminal court to four months of suspended imprisonment for death threats and crimes targeting personalities from the entertainment world, against the background commercial dispute. The prosecution in this case cost him his position as host on Radio Nova. Emmanuel Macron had appointed Yassine Belattar to the Presidential Council of Cities, a body established in 2018 to reflect on public policies for working-class suburbs. The Franco-Moroccan host resigned the following year after comments by Jean-Michel Blanquer, then Minister of National Education, on the Islamic veil, deemed “not desirable” in France. But he has continued to communicate with the head of state since.
Since the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, Yassine Belattar has given his opinion several times on social networks, in particular expressing indignation at the media treatment of the war in the Gaza Strip. “Most of the French media have succeeded in merging hatred of the Arabs of this country with an international hatred of all Arabs,” he wrote, for example, on October 29. “Hate of Muslims has become the ticket to Parisian sets and salons.” Before the march against anti-Semitism on Sunday, he justified his non-appearance by “the presence of the extreme right”. “I understand and support the Jewish community in its utter emotion in the face of the events of October 7, just as I have supported the Palestinian people since the bombings of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th… a- he writes on his Instagram account. Despite the media provocation that would like to bring these events face to face, I feel that the French population simply wants lasting humanity. However, I cannot come on Sunday because I do not walk with my executioners.” The absence of Emmanuel Macron at this march was criticized by several political camps.
