French Politicians Call Out Victor Wembanyama After Protest He Backed Turns Violent

Two years ago, Jordan Bardella said it bothered him when multimillionaire athletes such as Kylian Mbappé lectured voters struggling to pay their bills. The same argument has now landed on Victor Wembanyama. The Spurs star shared a picture of a white rabbit holding a pocket watch on X on Friday night, and by the end of Saturday a politician was demanding he be held to account.

Eric Ciotti, the mayor of Nice, wrote on X: "French celebrities like the basketball player Victor Wembanyama, who called for supporting the riots of October 17, bear a historic responsibility. They must be condemned." Ciotti, an ally of the National Rally, accused the 7-foot-4 star of fanning the disorder. His post followed the Alice in Wonderland image, which Wembanyama shared just before the day of protests.

He wasn’t alone. Laure Lavalette, the municipal and metropolitan councilor of Toulon, added: “Send him the bill.” In an apparent response to the aftermath of the protest that saw properties worth millions damaged as the protest turned violent.

Wembanyama had already shown where he stood on the student movement. Asked about the high school protests, he said: "What touches me is that it's not something totally unfamiliar to me. I was in high school in Nanterre, which was already a stronghold of blockades back then. I was a high school student not so long ago. I was lucky enough to get out of it; it's a situation I'm fortunate no longer to have to live through."

He added: "These are systemic inequalities, problems so deeply rooted... I'm glad that high school students, young people in general, are making themselves heard, because I hear them and I support them. And I hope that the people way up there will do the same."

The rabbit post came the evening before a huge march that reportedly drew between 550,000 and 800,000 people. The mobilisation was organised against the cost of living and the decline of public services, and was marked by clashes, damage and looting in cities including Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Lille.

Wembanyama's image was read as a nod to that day. Ciotti's tweet pushed the story from sports social media into French politics.

Ciotti is not alone in using the violence as a political weapon. The violence overshadowed the demands of the hundreds of thousands who marched, and the political camps spent the next day blaming each other. Bardella blamed "professionals of chaos," while the prime minister said people were either on the side of the Republic and the police, or on the side of the rioters.

Ciotti himself denounced "red fascism" on the streets. Against that backdrop, a basketball star's social media post became one more thing to argue over.

What Wembanyama meant is still open. He has said nothing about the damage that marked Saturday, and nothing clearly shows the rabbit referred to the mobilisation.

Many fans defending him in Ciotti's replies said the meme pointed to the new NBA season. His quoted words also concern the students, not the cost-of-living march or the riots that followed.

What he has said and what he is accused of is the heart of the row. Wembanyama has publicly backed young protesters and the people at the top listening to them, and he has not endorsed violence.

His critics say a post this ambiguous, from someone this famous, carries a "historic responsibility" regardless of intent. He is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and about to start a new season, and he has kept quiet so far. Until he explains the post, the two sides will keep reading it their own way.