French Presidential Candidate Sued for Holocaust Denial

Nazi Germany considered homosexual people "socially aberrant," and they were persecuted harshly during the Holocaust. Tens of thousands were arrested or deported, hundreds of those in France, and the numbers are believed to be vastly under-reported. But according to far-right French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, all of that is a myth. Zemmour, a TV pundit and author running in next month's election, is now being sued by six LGBTQ organizations for his views, which they allege amount to Holocaust denial, NPR reports. Zemmour is himself Jewish. In his most recent book, La France n'a pas dit son dernier mot ("France has not said its final word"), published last year, Zemmour referred to the idea of homosexual French citizens being deported due to sexual orientation as a "legend."

In response to the lawsuit, Zemmour's team points out that Zemmour is actually quoting someone else's ideas in that portion of the book—though the book makes clear Zemmour agrees with the politician he's quoting, France24 reports. Zemmour, 63, who is currently polling at 11%, has previously been convicted of hate speech twice and is appealing a third conviction. Those cases had to do with remarks he made about immigration (he has referred to unaccompanied child migrants as "thieves, killers, ... rapists") and Islam. (Zemmour has been compared to former President Trump.)