French TV Host Sparks Backlash Over Bed Bug and Immigration Comments

While receiving on Friday Nicolas Roux de Bézieux, founder-director of Badbugs.fr, a platform specialized in the management of pests such as bed bugs in his show "L’heure des pros" on CNews, presenter Pascal Praud questioned his guest about the link between the proliferation of bed bugs and immigration. "Do we know why there are more bed bugs today? Is it related to hygiene? I’m going to ask all the questions... There is a lot of immigration right now. Is it the people who don’t have the same hygiene conditions as those on French soil who are bringing them, because they are on the street, because maybe they don’t have access to all the services like the others? Is it related to that?" "Absolutely not. Bed bugs have nothing to do with hygiene, that’s why they affect absolutely everyone," the guest replied.

Journalist Guadalupe shared this sequence from the show on Twitter, which sparked outrage from Internet users. At the end of "L’heure des pros", Pascal Praud tried to cut short the controversy. He mentioned the "tourists" who, in airports, "can transport bed bugs." "The National Association for Assistance at the Borders for Foreigners withdrew from the waiting area of Roissy infested with bed bugs," he added, before explaining: "a situation which, according to it, has been deteriorating continuously" since its first reports in February. "Nothing more. So let Mr. Guadalupe [a journalist who shared the sequence on Twitter, editor’s note] and his friends get informed. That’s all," the presenter concluded.

In vain. The controversy continues. "These remarks are of an obvious racism. P. Praud’s alleged caution does not hide the memory of Maurras who affirmed ’the dreadful vermin of the Jews of the East, brings lice, plague, typhus’. Ignoble," LFI deputy Aurélien Saintoul indignantly tweeted, announcing that he will refer the matter to Arcom. Renaissance deputies also mentioned a "rancid racism that we hoped to eradicate!" before describing the CNews presenter’s remarks as "ignoble". Bérangère Couillard, the minister in charge of the Fight against Discrimination, did not fail to react. She referred the matter to Arcom, the media regulator. "I will never accept hate speech in the media or elsewhere. Nothing should be let through," she added, describing Pascal Praud’s remarks as "very shocking".