National Rally Leaders Rebuke Mbappé, French Footballers Over Anti-RN Remarks as 2027 Vote Nears
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Jul 4
National Rally Leaders Rebuke Mbappé, French Footballers Over Anti-RN Remarks as 2027 Vote Nears
3 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Jul 4
Summary
Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella attacked Kylian Mbappé and other France players for urging voters to oppose the far right, saying wealthy athletes should not lecture people earning 1,300 to 1,400 euros a month.
Mbappé had called the National Rally’s 2024 regional-election gains “catastrophic” and warned that “the extremes are knocking at the doors of power,” comments he recently reaffirmed in a Vanity Fair interview.
The criticism reflects the party’s broader repositioning: from Jean-Marie Le Pen’s overt attacks on a multiethnic national team in the 1990s to Marine Le Pen’s more class-based argument that celebrity players are detached from ordinary voters.
That shift matters as National Rally weighs its 2027 presidential candidate, with a court decision on Marine Le Pen’s eligibility due this week and polls showing either her or Bardella could be competitive.