Nagui Fires Back at Columnist’s Zemmour Comparison, Defends Immigrant Values

Invited on Yann Barthès’ "Quotidien" program on TMC and TF1 to talk about the 30th anniversary of his favorite show Taratata, Nagui looked back on his career and his life, mentioning his arrival in France from Egypt with his parents who gave him a good education and instilled the republican values of France, not forgetting the racist insults he suffered during his youth.

In his editorial titled "Nagui speaks like Zemmour", published in the "Journal du Dimanche" on November 5, Pascal Praud attacked the host. "Nagui’s father made his own this maxim that the moderns have described as far-right: ’When in Rome, do as the Romans do’," wrote the columnist.

Nagui’s reaction did not wait. "My father did not try to change my first name or my pride in being born in Egypt. My parents were teachers and defended the values of the school, that is to say fraternity, acceptance of difference and never to spread racist remarks, which divide and stir up hatred," wrote the host in an Instagram post.

And to continue: "For some people you blindly venerate, my first name is an insult to France, and insults, I have plenty that come to me when I read you. [...] But my father taught me one essential thing that goes beyond you: respect." Nagui’s post was widely supported by Internet users, including his wife Mélanie Page, who said she was "proud" of their "origins", "of our mix, of our family and of the beautiful country in which we live".