Comedian Jamel Debbouze Challenges Anti-Immigration Rhetoric, Cites Economic Benefits

In an interview with Le Parisien on the sidelines of the release of the film Mercato by Tristan Séguéla, in which he plays a football player agent, Jamel Debbouze speaks out on the elections in France and especially on the favorite theme of the Rassemblement national: immigration. "At every election for the past twenty years, I have been unpleasantly surprised to see that France is becoming more and more distrustful of itself," he said. He says he observes that immigration is pointed out at every election.

"It’s unfair: immigration brings in 15 billion to France. But I want to remain optimistic," he affirmed, without however giving the source of such a figure. The comedian deplores the "growing disparities" in the country and the fact that immigrants are, according to him, "saddled with all the ills." He indicates how to bring down the RN: "The only way to knock down the RN (Rassemblement national) is solidarity, intelligence and open-mindedness."

The next French presidential election will be held in 2027. Jamel Debbouze says he is waiting for "a strong social program." He continues: "I was raised by Bernard Hugo, the former (Communist) mayor of Trappes. In reality, he was neither communist, nor left-wing, nor right-wing: he was humanist." The 49-year-old comedian believes that France needs this approach to "recreate a link" within the population.

Regarding the 2022 French presidential election, he confides that he voted for Emmanuel Macron "by default in the second round." Jamel Debbouze was also questioned about his presence in October last in the delegation accompanying the French president to Morocco. He specified that he had been "invited by Morocco", an invitation "validated by France." And to conclude: "I chose not to be in the delegation, I took a Ryanair ticket. It was important to be there because we had suffered so much from the restrictions on visa issuance. It was a stranglehold, after two years of confinement because of Covid."