The right-wing and green party politicians soon digressed from the topics of immigration and the war in Ukraine, turning the conversation, originally intended to be political in nature, into an exchange of personal remarks and insults.

Viewers watching the show dubbed Elysee 2022 on the France 2 channel in the evening on 17 March saw a political-themed discussion develop into a fierce altercation. Participants of the debate, right-wing presidential candidate Eric Zemmour and green party politician Yannick Jadot, were supposed to discuss the topic of war in Ukraine and immigration, but when the conversation came to Vladimir Putin, their exchange quickly became personal. Asked whether they considered the Russian president a war criminal, Mr Jadot answered „yes” without hesitation, and then went on to accuse Mr Zemmour of representing Putin’s interests. The green party politician continued by saying that he loved France but not the one that lines up behind Vladimir Putin’s interests.

Vous avez soutenu Poutine, vous avez soutenu Trump.

C’est l’internationale des nationalistes.

Moi j’aime la France, mais j’aime la France qui rayonne, pas celle qui se range derrière les intérêts de Vladimir Poutine. #Elysee2022 #Jadot2022 pic.twitter.com/VK7jDorKMy

— Yannick Jadot (@yjadot) March 17, 2022

This was not the first time the two politicians have exchanged personal insults. In February the green party lawmaker described the right-wing presidential candidate as „the service Jew of anti-Semites” on Radio J, adding that the French Republic’s motto „Liberty, equality, fraternity” cannot be turned into the triad of „racism, anti-Semitism, revisionism.”

« @ZemmourEric fait le juif de service pour les antisémites Ce que Le Pen @lepenjm n’avait pas réussi á faire, Zemmour le fait.Avec une différence c’est qu’il est juif. Il porte des pulsions de mort et le poison de la division»: @yjadot @EELV #Zemmour #ForumRadioJ @RadioJFrance pic.twitter.com/LElhjperEt

— Haziza Frédéric (@frhaz) February 13, 2022

Eric Zemmour started his speech by recalling this incident. He said he had been hesitant to engage in a public debate with Yannick Jadot who, in his view, had shown his true colours. Mr Zemmour called the Green Party politician racist and an ally of Islamists, stressing that Mr Jadot’s words were characteristic of those groups. Regarding his service Jew” comment, Mr Zemmour said if the green party politician knew the past of his family, he would not have dared to say that, adding that one of his uncles had been in a concentration camp.

Vous m’avez traité de juif de service, monsieur Jadot. Si vous connaissiez l’histoire de ma famille, vous n’oseriez pas.#Elysée2022 #ZemmourVsMacron pic.twitter.com/0YUED6Zay0

— Eric Zemmour (@ZemmourEric) March 17, 2022

Eric Zemmour asked Yannick Jadot the rhetorical question of who was killing Jews today, and whether they were acting in the name of Hitler or Allah. Mr Zemmour called Mr Jadot an ally of the anti-Semites because he defended Islamists who were killing Jews.

Vous êtes les alliés des antisémites. C’est vous, Monsieur Jadot, qui protégez les islamistes qui tuent des Juifs.#Elysee2022 #ZemmourVsMacronpic.twitter.com/VttfmxhGTa

— Eric Zemmour (@ZemmourEric) March 17, 2022

Host Lea Salame tried to divert the politicians’ heated conversation from the realm of personal insults back into politics, with little or no success.