# Jérôme Fourquet Challenged Over First-Name Analysis of Court Appearances

- Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2118449257351106850
- Source account: [@BastionMediaFR](https://x.com/BastionMediaFR)
- Source language: French
- Target language: English
- Duration: 4:11
- Published: 2026-11-06
- Machine translated. Check the original before quoting.
- Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances
- Original-language version: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/fr/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-pol%C3%A9mique-sur-les-pr%C3%A9noms-en-comparution-imm%C3%A9diate.md

## Transcript

[0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances) Always with reliable data, and who refused to make controversial statements.

[0:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=3) You found yourself at the heart of a bizarre controversy this week.

[0:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=6) Can we talk about it? Yes, well, of course.

[0:09](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=9) What happened? So, th— Uh, basically— Basically, to sum it up.

[0:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=12) Among more than seventy people tried in immediate court proceedings— That was on October seventeenth, right?

[0:17](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=17) On October seventeenth, you concluded that seventy-five percent had Arab-Muslim or African first names.

[0:24](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=24) The whole far-right sphere, our neighbors upstairs, loved it.

[0:27](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=27) So, uh, as with every episode of this kind, everyone talks all over the place, our job is to try to provide, uh, some reference points, to provide some, uh, figures.

[0:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=37) We talked about it earlier. And so we emplo— used this first-name method which has been used for quite some time in, in sociology when SOS Racisme or others conduct testing operations, you know, we send anonymous résumés— Mm-hmm.

[0:51](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=51) We send the same résumé, one with Jérôme, then Karim or someone else and see how many résumés are received or not.

[0:56](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=56) Uh, when Libération, which is a newspaper from the Bolloré Group, in 2012, had published an article called “Parity and Diversity, Locked-Down Ministerial Offices.”

[1:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=65) It was to show that in ministerial offices, there were very few people from the— what they called diversity, which means people of, of immigrant origin.

[1:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=72) So that was also this first-name method.

[1:13](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=73) But all this is to condemn racism. Well, it's about— But is this to get to the heart of the matter, um, to take seventy first names— Se— se— Seventy.

[1:22](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=82) To say that there are seventy-five percent— of foreign first names, what did you want to prove with, with Maghrebi first names?

[1:27](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=87) Because why did you do that? Why did we do that?

[1:29](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=89) Because, um, there was the controversy that was starting to build around the, the issue and so we wanted to quantify things by asking whether or not there was an overrepresentation?

[1:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=97) Seventy, that's not serious. There were over a thousand people, um, referred.

[1:39](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=99) Oh, of course, but we, we, we base ourselves on the figures.

[1:41](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=101) That's kind of the problem, Jérôme Fourquet— We base ourselves on the figures.

[1:44](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=104) About the method. You can still agree that there are flaws in the method.

[1:47](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=107) I'm just giving a few clues. You start your method with press clippings, starting from press clippings.

[1:52](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=112) You make us want to say, well, you— No clippings, no articles, right?

[1:54](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=114) Press articles, of course. So then, we want to ask you which press you read.

[1:57](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=117) There's, there's opinion journalism. Uh, so you target, as we said, Arab-Muslim or African first names.

[2:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=123) Here too, I want to, to ask you, what is an Arab-Muslim first name?

[2:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=126) What is an Af-African first name? Sarah, Jasmine.

[2:09](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=129) Sarah, which category do you put her in?

[2:11](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=131) One more thing, and this is perhaps the most serious, and that's what Jean-Michel says, Um, you're basing this on the first names of 70 people out of 917 immediate court appearances, so eight percent.

[2:22](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=142) You're basing this on eight percent. That's based on what we were able to sift through and obtain.

[2:26](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=146) But yes, but then we don't even know if those people you're talking about, so those people with an Arab-Muslim or African first name, we don't even know why they're appearing—Yes.

[2:36](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=156) And above all, whether they were convicted.

[2:38](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=158) Well, I didn't say they'd been convicted.

[2:40](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=160) I said, we take the dataset, these are people who have, who appeared in court, and whose cases the press, and the whole press—we didn't choose one specific newspaper, we took the regional press.

[2:49](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=169) We, in fact, we compiled everything we could to to have as large a corpus as possible.

[2:53](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=173) If we could have had more occurrences, we would have.

[2:57](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=177) It still took hours to, to, uh, compile everything.

[2:59](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=179) Yes. And so we looked to try and, and, to, to place the cursor since we knew that the, the political scene was starting to, to heat up over the, over the subject. So that's what we did.

[3:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=190) But you know that on these issues, there's political exploitation.

[3:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=192) Do you concede that you were too casual about it?

[3:14](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=194) No, it's not a question of being careless, it's a question of having tried to, to measure it with the tools we had.

[3:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=198) After the exploitation—But you don't agree that— No, no, the po-, political exploitation, you know, if, uh, if we don't do that, Political co-optation means saying either this doesn't exist, or that it's all there is.

[3:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=208) You see? And so, at some point, our job, like that of a reporter or journalist, is to try to describe reality with the tools, and limitations that are, uh, its own. And that's what we tried to do.

[3:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=217) Reliable tools, right? Reliable tools. And at least, when you reveal information, it's indisputable.

[3:41](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=221) But here, it's disputable. But we, we, we explain on what basis it was done.

[3:46](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=226) So we're not saying this is the revealed truth.

[3:48](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=228) We're talking about the corpus we were able to access. Mm-hmm.

[3:51](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=231) We also show, for example, that more than ninety percent are men in this, in this corpus, which is, uh, consistent with the statistics that the Minister of, Justice provided on all the people who had been deferred.

[4:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=243) We, ou-our job is also to take samples. Well, we talked about it.

[4:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/qxsI1H0IoKRw/en/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-fourquet-challenged-over-first-name-analysis-of-court-appearances?t=247) Um, what, what are you interested in over the next—