MP Laetitia Avia accused of racist, sexist and homophobic comments

Parisian MP La République en Marche, Laetitia Avia, is accused by former collaborators of regularly making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks. In a Mediapart investigation published on Tuesday, they also accuse him of harassing and humiliating working methods. The member announced that she wanted to file a defamation complaint, while explaining that her comments had been misappropriated.

"We voted on the PD amendment": MP LREM Laetitia Avia questioned by 5 of her ex-collaborators. They denounce, with supporting evidence, his remarks with a sexist, homophobic and racist connotation. And humiliation at work. My survey for @Mediapart https://t.co/oKlZZxwdNL

It must be said that these revelations come at a bad time: it is this Wednesday that the so-called Avia bill against online hatred must be definitively passed by the National Assembly. However, according to the testimony and documents published by Mediapart, the public and private remarks of the member would be quite far from the lines of action advocated in this text. Laetitia Avia is said to have treated a former collaborator of Asian origin as his "scapegoat". "She sometimes called him" the Chinese "or used racist stereotypes to talk about him," says a former collaborator. The member reportedly referred to an amendment on LGBT refugees as the "PD amendment" and called some of her fellow MPs "whores", judging their clothes.

"A shameful manipulation"

As for working conditions, the testimonies speak of "a system that crushes you". "She used to criticize our work or reprimand us in front of our colleagues, it was very humiliating and it kept unhealthy competition between us," said one of them to Mediapart. “Working for her meant being asked to work from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. Even on weekends. "Reports another.

The MP responded on Twitter, justifying some of the remarks she is accused of and the demanding work that she demands of her staff. “I am a demanding member of Parliament towards my employees, because they are well paid .  As soon as I have money left on my envelope, I pay them premiums. I value their work, ”she said in her Mediapart response. "It is shameful manipulation, driven by a single objective: to harm me and undermine my political struggle," Laetitia Avia also believes.

[Thread] In 2 months, David Perrotin published 3 articles on me. A relentlessness which leads to the publication of false and incoherent accusations on the eve of the final vote of #PPLCyberhaine. It is not a coincidence.

Those who testified in this investigation did not prosecute the member but said "they knocked on all doors". According to Mediapart, "the ethics officer of the National Assembly has been seized at least six times on the case of the deputy"; "The office of the boss of LREM deputies, Gilles Le Gendre, and that of the president of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand were also notified of major" dysfunctions "  "; "  The Assembly's anti-harassment cell was also seized". Without success.

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• Racism
• LREM
• Homophobia
• Deputy
• Misogyny
• Sexism