The family of Dr Martin Luther King have criticised far-right leader Marine Le Pen for comparing her ban from running in the 2027 presidential election to the US civil rights movement, describing the comparison as an "inappropriate distortion of history".
During a rally last Sunday, Marine Le Pen, a leader of the far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN), called on her supporters to "take inspiration" from the American struggle for racial equality to help her win back the right to run in the 2027 presidential election.
She used Dr King's name several times.
Le Pen also made a video appearance at the congress of Italy's far-right Lega party on 6 April, claiming to be fighting the French equivalent of the black civil rights movement. "Our fight ... will be a pacifist battle. We will take inspiration from Martin Luther King who defended civil rights... Today it is the civil rights of the French that are being called into question," she said.
Last month French courts found Le Pen guilty of embezzling EU funds to pay party staff. Her sentencing includes a ban on running for public office, implemented with immediate effect, meaning she is likely out of the race.
She denies any wrongdoing and has launched an appeal, claiming the sentencing is part of a politically motivated plan to knock her out of a race that polls strongly suggest she could win..
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‘Distortion of civil rights’
Dr King was a black American baptist minister and one of the most prominent leaders of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s which aimed to end racial segregation and discrimination. He was assassinated on 4 April 1968.
Le Pen's comments did not sit well with Dr King’s family.
“This constitutes an inappropriate distortion of history and undermines the sacrifices made by those who stood against hate and fought for justice,” the black pastor's son Martin Luther King III and his wife Arndrea Waters King told BFMTV on Tuesday.
“His efforts inspired generations of Americans and paved the way for the creation of his vision of a beloved community, a society built on unity rather than division,” they added.
'Grossly indecent'
Le Pen's political opponents also disapproved.
“Seeing Madame Le Pen, at the head of a party in which a number of leaders have been convicted of inciting racial hatred, come and somehow remake herself in the guise of Martin Luther King, I found that grossly indecent,” Manuel Bompard or the hard-left France Unbowed party told France Info.
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Le Pen has filed an appeal against the court's verdict – the decision is expected to be delivered in the summer of 2026.
If the decision is overturned she might have enough time to campaign for the election slated for April 2027. If it is upheld, which is likely given the evidence stacked against her, the head of the RN Jordan Bardella, could replace her as candidate.
