In December 2021, Cyril Hanouna inaugurated a new meeting, "Face à Baba", which confirmed his desire to impose himself in the media game ahead of the electoral campaign.
Eric Zemmour was the first guest.
The audiences, very solid, had flirted with two million viewers.
The following month, on January 27, Jean-Luc Mélenchon – with whom Hanouna has since distanced himself – was in turn invited.
His presence, a priori less buoyant than that of the far-right candidate, could give hope for smaller audiences.
Is this also why the host had decided to oppose him, among other speakers, the same Éric Zemmour?
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Read alsoBetween TF1 and Cyril Hanouna, a war that has lasted for almost 10 years
Our colleagues from
L'Express
, in a long article entitled
Tyranny Hanouna told from the inside: "Do not name me above all, it scares me"
, return to this episode.
They explain that the LFI leader hesitated to cross swords with his opponent before accepting.
Then wonder about the unequal distribution of speaking time between the invited opponents.
Among them, Aymeric Caron, who had joined the LFI campaign, lawyer and columnist Charles Consigny and even
Figaro
journalist Eugénie Bastié.
The exchanges with Consigny or Aymeric Caron had lasted about twenty minutes.
The one with Eugénie Bastié, about ten minutes.
The one with Éric Zemmour, one hour and ten minutes.
The regrets of Jean-Luc Mélenchon
It should not have happened like this, says
L'Express
, the show should not have given rise to a long debate between the two competing candidates - a particularly heated debate because of the aggressiveness of Jean-Luc Mélenchon .
Seeing that the initial conductor of the show was not respected, the teams of the far left candidate would have sought at the time to speak, in control, to those who pilot “Face à Baba”, producer or editor.
In vain.
The door behind which they were, reports the weekly, was double locked...
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The day after the broadcast, Jean-Luc Mélenchon had split a bitter note on his blog: "
When a sequence which was to last twenty minutes with Zemmour instead of ten by favor of the antenna and which lasts to finish ten past one, it's hard not to have the feeling of having been manipulated.
The far-left candidate said he regretted having participated in it:
“Never again accept any program without a serious guarantee of balance, even if it means canceling an hour before or leaving a set along the way.
By the way, hello!”
, he wrote.
Read alsoLouis Boyard announces that he will file a complaint against Cyril Hanouna for “public insult towards a person entrusted with a public service mission”
After the stormy passage of Louis Boyard in "Touche pas à mon poste" at the end of November, relations were once again strained between La France insoumise and the C8 channel.
The young deputy received a volley of green wood after targeting Vincent Bolloré and his African activities.
Cyril Hanouna accused his former columnist of provocation and ingratitude, in cruder terms.
In a video, Jean-Luc Mélenchon reacted as follows: “
Cyril Hanouna, are you going to blame someone for making a splash?
You spend your life doing this.
“Before formulating this criticism, regularly made to “Touche pas à mon poste”: “
When we come to your house, we know that we are breaking into a plateau favorable to the far right, made for the far right
”.