NBA star Wembanyama joins French sports heroes' calls to vote against 'extremes'

NEWS WIRES

June 27, 2024 at 11:37 a.m.·1 min read

French basketball star Victor Wembanyama on Thursday joined football star Kylian Mbappe and other leading sports heroes, many of whom come from immigrant backgrounds, in warning against voting for the "extremes" in the first round of the country's snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, June 30.

Polls show the anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party could emerge as the biggest parliamentary group and head a government for the first time in what would be a seismic change for France.

"Of course, political choices are personal, but for me it is important to take a distance from extremes, which are not the direction to take for a country like ours," the San Antonio Spurs phenomenon, who is expected to represent France at the Paris Olympics, told reporters in Paris.

Wembanyama's words echoed those of football superstar Kylian Mbappe and other members of the French national football team, many of whom come from immigrant backgrounds.

Mbappe and several teammates have also urged French voters to avoid "the extremes" in a tacit call not to vote for the RN on Sunday.

"In everyday life, I hate extremes. I'm more for a politics of unity, that's what represents France the best," Tchouameni told a press conference in Germany.

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