Awkward! Renowned US civil rights campaigner Jesse Jackson might want to check the guest list next time he accepts a dinner invitation overseas, after finding himself breaking bread with French nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen in Paris this week.
Jackson, who was with Martin Luther King Jr when he was shot down by a white nationalist in Memphis 48 years ago, later said on Twitter that he didn’t know Le Pen would be there.
That was in reaction to photos posted by the 87-year-old former leader of the National Front party on his Twitter account.
“Keep Hope Alive” was a slogan used by Jackson during his unsuccessful bid for presidency in 1988.
The Baptist minister, who was in France to commemorate the abolition of slavery, voiced “disgust” following the encounter on Wednesday and said he found Le Pen’s views “repulsive.”
“I did not know him, I’ve never met with him before, and I find his ideas xenophobic and repulsive,” the civil rights leader told AFP in an attempt to explain the bizarre encounter, which took place at a Moroccan restaurant.
Though it remains unclear how the dinner arrangements came to be, Jackson insisted it wasn’t a political meeting and that Le Pen, along with his wife Jany, “were invited by other hosts.”
An unnamed associate of Le Pen told AFP that the US pastor knew exactly who Le Pen was before the dinner took place.
“There was no trap and there was even an agreement with their mutual Moroccan friends that the dinner was not private,” he said, adding that a professional photographer had been hired to take photos.
Le Pen, co-founder of the National Front party and Donald Trump supporter, has a long history of controversial views and racist statements.
He was fined by a court for inciting hatred against Muslims by saying they would take over France due to their growing population - and frequently complains that French national football team has too many non-white players.