The cultural Left spares no subtleties. On Saturday 29 August, the British punk band Lambrini Girls performed at the Rock en Seine festival in Saint-Cloud (Hauts-de-Seine). On the stage screen, the English duo of feminist and queer activists, Phoebe Lunny and Lilly Macieira, displayed in capital letters a coarse message targeting Marine Le Pen: “Fuck Marine Le Pen”. The festival’s official Instagram account then reshared the image.
The Hauts-de-Seine branch of the RN immediately reacted on X: “At Rock en Seine, the Lambrini Girls display ‘FUCK MARINE LE PEN’ at a festival co-owned by Matthieu Pigasse. The leftists have only insults and hatred to offer.”
MEP Matthieu Valet also reacted, citing the group’s “radical positions on Israel” and their hatred of the police. “Their level really doesn’t fly high. And the best part? They claim to fight sexism while displaying ‘FUCK MARINE LE PEN’ on stage… Complete jokers, I tell you!”, he added.
This is not the first time this militant band has made headlines and embraced far-left positions. In January 2025, singer and guitarist Phoebe Lunny said in an interview with the magazine Sound of Violence: “I don’t want to compromise on our political and social beliefs. We are a pro-Palestinian, pro-trans group, anti-occupation, we hate the police, we support queer and LGBT rights, we hate harassers and abusers, we hate misogynists…” A few months earlier, the group had refused to participate in two events, SXSW and the Great Escape Festival, because some of their sponsors supported the Israeli government.
Rock en Seine, a festival committed to the Left
Rock en Seine, held each year at the end of August, is an event that claims close ties with left‑leaning cultural circles. It belongs to the media group Combat, owned by banker Matthieu Pigasse, who openly pursues a “cultural battle” against the “far right.” He was reported this summer to have attended the AMFIS, the activist days of La France insoumise.
Last year the festival hosted the Northern Irish group Kneecap, accused of supporting Hamas and Hezbollah after a member waved flags of those Islamist groups during a 2024 London concert. That controversy ultimately led the city of Saint‑Cloud and the Île‑de‑France region to withdraw their subsidies.
The episode at Rock en Seine exposes once again how certain cultural circles have made provocation and political posturing their norm. While freedom of expression must be preserved, it’s worth asking whether festivals financed in part by public money should become stages for gratuitous insults and political theatre that deepen social divisions.
