French President Wants To “Piss Off” The Unvaccinated

January 5, 2022 Coronavirus, Politics

The government on Wednesday defended President Emmanuel Macron’s use of a coarse insult in a stepped-up campaign against France’s unvaccinated, after the phrase drew condemnation from the opposition and mixed reactions from voters.

Parliament suspended debate on a COVID-19 bill as opposition lawmakers demanded explanations from Macron, who earlier said he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people by making their lives so complicated they would end up getting jabbed.

“A president cannot say such things,” Christian Jacob, chair of the conservative Les Republicans party, told parliament as it discussed a bill to make it mandatory for people to show proof of vaccination to enter many enclosed public spaces.

Euronews reports:

The French president’s comments in a newspaper interview came on the day France reported another daily record with more than 271,000 COVID-19 infections, as the Omicron variant continues to drive a fifth wave of the virus.

“The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so we will continue to do so, to the bitter end. That’s the strategy,” the head of state said. “When my freedom comes to threaten that of other people, I become irresponsible. An irresponsible person is no longer a citizen.”

The president’s language is being seen as an inversion of a comment by one of his predecessors Georges Pompidou, who said it was time to “stop pissing off the French people” in 1966 when he was prime minister.

“I am not for pissing off the French … however, the unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview. https://t.co/ZO0iVfSe2O

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 5, 2022

The French President’s remarks drew swift and angry condemnation from opposition lawmakers, who were debating Macron’s proposed new set of rules for unvaccinated people that would ban them from much of public life https://t.co/xSC3FwAX4N

— CNN (@CNN) January 5, 2022

There’s something special about hearing Macron’s comments summarized through a cheery British accent: “French President Emanuel Macron says he wants to piss off unvaccinated people” pic.twitter.com/uROsFAtHTe

— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) January 5, 2022

Macron on the unvaxxed:

“There is a tiny minority of people who are resistant. … We can reduce that, I’m sorry to say, by pissing them off even more.”

“I am not here to piss off the French. … But the unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off.”https://t.co/czggoZ4B1w

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) January 5, 2022