Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France insoumise and a candidate in France’s 2027 presidential election, said on Sunday that he would not appear on TF1’s “20 heures” program the following evening. His announcement came shortly after the channel interviewed Édouard Philippe, the Horizons figure and mayor of Le Havre, about immigration and recent unrest.

On X, Mélenchon accused presenter Anne-Claire Coudray of adopting what he described as Philippe’s “racist slanders” and criticized the lack of interruption during the interview. He said he would therefore not go on the program.

TF1 rejected that characterization. The network said Monday that Coudray had conducted the interview “with professionalism and rigor,” questioning Philippe about comments he had previously made in Le Point.

Following the October 17 riots, Philippe had said there was a clear overrepresentation of young people from immigrant backgrounds among those involved in the violence surrounding the demonstrations. He also referred to what he called the failure of integration in France over several decades.

Asked about those remarks, Philippe said that many of the young French people shown looting in broadcast images were, in his view, French people from immigrant backgrounds. He argued that this represented an issue that had to be addressed directly.

Philippe later responded to Mélenchon on X, accusing him of portraying far-left looters and rioters as models of integration and victims of the police. Mélenchon answered by accusing the former prime minister of “racialist clientelism.”

TF1 also said that invitations to presidential candidates are announced only once confirmed. In comments reported by Agence France-Presse, the channel said Mélenchon’s appearance had been canceled or postponed at the end of the week, before Philippe’s interview. TF1 therefore maintained that the decision was not made in response to that broadcast. Neither Mélenchon’s party nor the network had publicly announced the planned appearance.

Mélenchon has a long record of criticizing what he calls media conventionality and frequently attacks media outlets and journalists on X, where he has 2.7 million followers. La France insoumise has also accused television networks of allowing racist and far-right views to spread since the racist attack in Trappes.

Sources: Le Monde Politique.