"What happened on (the show) + Do not touch my post + is extremely serious (...) We are seizing Arcom", reacted Thursday evening on Twitter the president of the deputies LFI Mathilde Panot.

"We have been seized and we will examine the sequence with regard to the obligations of the publisher", confirmed the audiovisual policeman to AFP on Friday, without specifying whether the referral came from LFI or viewers.

"We will not comment, neither C8 nor Cyril Hanouna," the C8 channel told AFP.

The ten-minute rush took place during a sequence devoted to the Ocean Viking migrant boat.

Guest on the set, Louis Boyard, deputy since June and former columnist for the show, accused the "five richest people" in France of "impoverishing Africa".

He quoted billionaire Vincent Bolloré, owner of the Canal+ group, to which C8 belongs.

"Bolloré gave you money since you were a columnist here (and) you didn't mind", replied Cyril Hanouna, reproaching the deputy for having wanted "to make a splash".

"Hypocrisy"

The tone quickly rose.

"I don't give a damn that you're elected," said Cyril Hanouna.

"You're irresponsible Cyril, you're hurting France, you're raising racism and we don't even have the right to criticize Bolloré on your channel," said Mr. Boyard.

LFI MP Louis Boyard, June 21, 2022 in Paris Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT AFP / Archives

"I do my job, I entertain people every night and I talk to them about current events. You are shit", added the host, after having called the deputy "moron", "jester " and "fucker".

Mr. Boyard left under the boos of the public.

"This sequence (...) is proof that on TPMP (Do not touch my post) we can say everything, and invite everyone", then tweeted Mr. Hanouna.

For political communication specialist Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet, interviewed by AFP, the incident is "symptomatic of very great violence vis-à-vis politics".

However, there is "a hypocrisy of the political milieu" towards Mr. Hanouna, notes Mr. Moreau-Chevrolet, screenwriter in 2020 of the comic strip "The President", in which he imagined the host as a candidate for the presidential election.

"popular audience"

"There is a real democratic trap: (LFI officials) need to participate in TPMP to exist as a protest force, because TPMP is one of the only places on television where you can say what you want , including hard positions, with a popular audience, of the unemployed, of people at the RSA", comments the political scientist.

Thus, Mathilde Panot was there on November 3.

More broadly, officials from other sides, including ministers (Marlène Schiappa), have participated in recent months in TPMP, long accused of seeking buzz with controversial subjects.

The president of the LFI deputies Mathilde Panot, on November 10, 2022 in Paris Alain JOCARD AFP

According to Mr. Moreau-Chevrolet, these debates with great "freedom of tone" should be "on the public service" and not on "the Bolloré territory", reputed to be very right-wing.

Otherwise, "it creates a gap between a popular culture (...) that Hanouna recovers, and the rest of the political class or the media which will be in a CSP+, urban bubble", he concludes.

"We can have a pure vision by deciding not to go, but then we deprive ourselves of a vector", for his part explained the deputy LFI Manuel Bompard to AFP.

TPMP is a ratings success, with 1.8 million viewers on average and peaks at over 2 million.

At the end of October, Cyril Hanouna had caused another controversy by calling for a summary trial for the murderer of the young Lola.

His positions had been described as "negation of the rule of law" by the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti.

Again, the Arcom is seized.

© 2022 AFP