Civil right activist and former Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson was in Paris this week, where he dined with Jean-Marie Le Pen, the controversial far-right French nationalist leader who was fined last month for describing Nazi gas chambers as a “detail” in the history of World War II.
According to a report in the French edition of the Huffington Post, the two men dined together on May 8. Le Pen posted a picture of himself with Jackson to his official Twitter account on Tuesday, along with another photo of a note Jackson apparently passed to Le Pen, which reads: “Keep Hope Alive.”
PARIS, le 8 mai 2016: dîner de Jany et Jean-Marie LE PEN avec le Révérend Jesse JACKSON. pic.twitter.com/HSj1wKse7A
— Jean-Marie Le Pen (@lepenjm) May 10, 2016
Le Pen, whose daughter currently leads the far-right National Front party he founded in 1972, has a long history of making racist and anti-Semitic remarks.
Jackson also has been criticized for anti-Semitic remarks, most notably during his run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984, when he referred to New York City as “Hymie-town.”
Jackson attended a ceremony in Paris on Tuesday to commemorate the French abolition of slavery.
UPDATE: According to a spokesman, Jackson “had no idea who [Le Pen] was or what he stood for.” The two men were both guests at a dinner hosted by “an old friend” of Jackson’s, the spokesman said, adding that Jackson routinely writes friendly notes to people he meets all over the world.
