The death of Jean-Pierre Elkabbach has left the political and media spheres in mourning. It’s a cash style and a king of the punchline that disappears, for which several politicians have paid the price… including Marine Le Pen!
Jean-Pierre Elkabbach left us this Tuesday, October 3, 2023. With the death of the 86-year-old journalist, a figure in the media world is passing away. Because Elkabbach stood out during numerous interviews with politicians or heads of state through his pugnacious style and a very marked sense of the punchline like we no longer do on radio or television. .
Several political figures have been able to pay the price for this sense of shock formula. This is particularly the case of Marine Le Pen. Interviewed in 2015 in the premises of Europe 1, the president of the National Front (now known as the National Rally) was totally taken aback by Jean-Pierre Elkabbach from the journalist’s first question. The tagline was rather unusual: “Hello Marine Le Pen. Aren’t you ashamed?”
This introduction will be repeated several times by the journalist, in front of a speechless Marine Le Pen. All while looking her straight in the eyes. “Sorry?”, “You are not ashamed”, he will repeat. “Ashamed of what?”, the president of the far-right party ends up asking, taken aback. “You have no regrets?” will once again engage Jean-Pierre Elkabbach.
Marine Le Pen will then insist on obtaining explanations from the Europe 1 journalist: “But what are you talking to me about, Mr. Elkabbach? I recognize you there in the provocation.”
Jean-Pierre Elkabbach will finally give the context linked to his question: the absence of the president of the FN at the demonstrations in support of Charlie Hebdo, after the attacks targeting the newspaper in January 2015. “The whole world was in Paris yesterday, it was beyond the National Union, the European Union, the Planetary Union to fight against terrorism. A sort of gathering and the Democrats did without you because you were not there”, will detail the journalist.
This outing was just one of the many verbal jousts that Jean-Pierre Elkabbach was able to indulge in during his career. He notably shot down a reform project from Secretary of State André Vallini in 2014 by asking him “What color do you prefer for the wall?”, before adding: “the wall on which your territorial reform will crash” .
He also took Bruno Le Maire to task in 2016, but also irritated Georges Marchais during various interviews, between 1978 and 1980. These sometimes heated exchanges then inspired Thierry Le Lurron to formulate, invented, but which became cult: “Shut up you Elkabbach!”
