Overview
- Bally Bagayoko of La France insoumise won the Saint-Denis mayoralty in the first round, unseating Socialist incumbent Mathieu Hanotin.
- The false claim that he called Saint-Denis “the city of Blacks” spread on X and TV despite his actual words referencing “the city of kings and the living people,” a known phrase about the town.
- BFMTV/RMC host Apolline de Malherbe apologized after questioning him on the fake quote, while Figaro editor Alexandre Devecchio and France 5’s Karim Rissouli publicly corrected the record.
- Seine-Saint-Denis president Stéphane Troussel condemned what he called a surge of racist remarks against the new mayor, and PS leader Olivier Faure criticized the relay of racist falsehoods on air.
- Education staff in Saint-Denis launched a petition backing Bagayoko and rebuked campaign claims by Hanotin about narcotraffickers, which were echoed on BFMTV/RMC, as Bagayoko’s complaint against Hanotin remains part of the fallout.