Jean-Marie Bigard is used to getting involved in politics in any way. The humorist thus wished to contact Emmanuel Macron to discuss with him the coronavirus crisis and in particular the question of the reopening of bars and restaurants. On May 9, 2020, the actor, known for his many rants, did not hesitate to denounce on his Facebook account “How the government is managing the coronavirus crisis” : "I'm tired of accepting to be locked up like a caged lion and seeing that on Monday everything will reopen except the places of conviviality? Are we going to let our bars, our restaurants, our bistros burst? That's it ?", he said. Following which the President of the Republic finally decided to call him. According to the comedian, Emmanuel Macron even promised him a timetable. "I bring my face back, I shit on the president and the president calls me to say" You are right, it's great ", then boasted Jean-Marie Bigard, at the microphone of South Radio.
"I know my arm is touching the throne"
A few days later, Wednesday May 27, Jean-Marie Bigard went even further in his involvement in the public and political life of the country. Sure BFMTV, the comedian said he did not close the door on a possible candidacy for the 2022 presidential election. “I know that my arm, as we said before, touches the throne”, he begins. “It means that I know that the first phone call that Emmanuel Macron gave me, he said to me 'It was Patrick Sébastien who gave me your phone, I listened to you, I always listen to you, I would love to speak with you. 'All the sentences that I said, he approved them because they are sentences of the people, this is what the people feel and as he has a little bit of trouble 'address directly to the people, it addresses me and through me, it addresses the people. ” When asked if he could consider a possible candidacy for the next presidential election, he replied as follows: “If it could help the people to have a sincere voice that is not part of any political party, yes, that could tempt me. When a guy weighs 8 million people and he represents the people, I would say the angry people, well he is called and that is what happened. We need to have confidence. I do not say that Emmanuel Macron is a bad person, but on the other hand, that he is badly surrounded. He is very badly surrounded. But basically, I am reassured by one thing: it is that a guy who would be incompetent, whose death we would like, would not have fun calling a guy like me. The fact that he called me reassured me. ”
A potential candidate … but envisaged by the Elysée
His potential candidacy, which is not all that surprising, remains however “Extremely potential” according to journalist Camille Langlade, head of the Continuous News Channel Policy Department. “We remind the rules, it takes 500 signatures of mayors, in particular, to be able to become a presidential candidate”, she explains. “There is still a long way to go and Jean-Marie Bigard has already tried politics very recently. In the first round of municipal elections in Paris, he was a candidate in the 11th arrondissement on the list of Marcel Campion. It received 56 votes, or 0.5% of the vote in Paris. But it is true that this scenario is imagined, feared, some say. Maybe that suited Emmanuel Macron to have a fairly broad populist front: Marine Le Pen, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and in the middle Jean-Marie Bigard. Or others, by the way, other names sometimes circulate in the entourage of the President. It must also be said that Jean-Marie Bigard is a populist, sometimes he picks up conspiracy theories, he takes them over… There is still a long way to go. ” And to conclude: “This is a scenario that Emmanuel Macron’s advisers have been talking to us about for over a year so it doesn’t date back to this coronavirus crisis. Emmanuel Macron estimates that he broke into the Elysée by surprise, so he tells himself that he too could be the victim of such a scenario in 2022. "
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