'France is being invaded': When Brigitte Bardot was repeatedly fined for anti-Muslim remarks
Celebrated worldwide for her film career and screen presence, Bardot later withdrew from cinema and devoted herself almost entirely to animal welfare.
Brigitte Bardot, the French actor who became one of the defining sex symbols of the 1960s before reinventing herself as a militant animal rights activist and outspoken supporter of the far right, has died at the age of 91.
Brigitte Bardot died on Sunday at her home in southern France, Bruno Jacquelin of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals told The Associated Press.
Celebrated worldwide for her film career and screen presence, Bardot later withdrew from cinema and devoted herself almost entirely to animal welfare.
Over time, however, her public image shifted sharply as her activism became intertwined with increasingly extremist rhetoric, particularly targeting immigrants and Muslims in France.
Also Read | Brigitte Bardot, icon of French cinema, dies at 91
Bardot' anti-immigration and anti-Muslim stance
Between 1997 and 2008, French courts fined Bardot six times for remarks deemed to incite hatred, many of them directed at France’s Muslim community, France24 reported.
In her writings, she warned of the “Islamisation of France” and claimed the country was being “invaded by sheep-slaughtering Muslims,” according to Reuters. A court later fined her €15,000, with prosecutors seeking harsher penalties on the grounds that she was a repeat offender.
“I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its acts,” Bardot wrote in one passage that became central to the case.
Also Read | French actor Brigitte Bardot, known for And God Created Woman, dies at 91
Charged with provoking hatred
Her legal controversies dated back decades.
In 1998, she faced charges of “provocation of hatred and racial discrimination” after linking Islamic rituals to violence, according to a report by The Independent.
In another instance, she said: “I’m not making it up. You just have to look at the television.” She also said she was “proud” of writing in a newspaper article: “They are cutting the throats of women and children, our monks and our officials. They’ll cut our throats one day and it will serve us right.”
Personal life's right-turn
Bardot’s personal life also reflected her political leanings. In 1992, she married Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to the far-right National Front.
She went on to publicly endorse the party’s leaders, including Jean-Marie Le Pen and later his daughter, Marine Le Pen, whom Bardot once described as “the Joan of Arc of the 21st century.”
In 2012, Bardot backed Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid. On Sunday, Le Pen, now head of the renamed National Rally, paid tribute to Bardot as an “exceptional woman” who was “incredibly French.”
Her position on religious slaughter
Bardot also drew widespread criticism for her positions on religious slaughter.
She published an open letter in several leading French newspapers calling for a ban on shehita, or Jewish ritual slaughter, describing it as “ritual sacrifice.”
The letter, which appeared in outlets including Le Parisien, Le Figaro and Le Monde, also urged bans on halal Muslim ritual slaughter and on horse meat, according to a report by The Times of Israel.
Jewish and Muslim religious laws require animals to be conscious when their necks are cut, a practice opposed by some animal welfare activists. Bardot’s letter prompted strong condemnation from the European Jewish Congress.
“Ms. Bardot’s depiction of shehita as ‘ritual sacrifice’ is not only deeply offensive and a slur against the Jewish people, but also shows a stunning lack of knowledge in an area where she purports to be an expert,” European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor said in a statement.
“Bardot has once again shown her clear insensitivity for minority groups with the substance and style of her letter.”
