He worked as a reporter for Le Quotidien de Paris from to He then joined Le Figaro , where he worked until Zemmour is well known for his controversial views regarding immigration and Islam in France. He has extensively supported the idea of the " great replacement ", a conspiracy theory contending that France's native population will be replaced by non-European people.
He appealed the conviction before the European Court of Human Rights but he lost the appeal. Convictions in and were overturned on appeal. Zemmour announced his candidacy for the French presidential election on 30 November He endorsed Marine Le Pen for the second round. Zemmour was a candidate for a parliamentary seat in the Saint-Tropez -centred 4th constituency of the Var department in the French legislative election but was eliminated in the first round, placing third.
According to Zemmour himself, his parents were Berber Jews. His parents were Roger Zemmour, a paramedic , and Lucette, a housewife. She maintains a low media profile and never comments on her husband's controversies. The couple has three children, two boys and a girl. In , Zemmour was alleged by French gossip magazines to have impregnated his chief campaign advisor Sarah Knafo.
In a interview with Le Point , Zemmour stated that although he does not believe in God, he keeps a kosher home and occasionally attends synagogue services on High Holy Days. Zemmour began his career in on the politics desk at Le Quotidien de Paris , under the editorship of Philippe Tesson. After the newspaper went out of business in , he became a lead writer at Info-Matin , where he stayed for a year.
He joined Le Figaro in as a political journalist. During this period, Zemmour was also a freelancer for Marianne and for Valeurs actuelles In , he was moved by Le Figaro to Le Figaro Magazine , allegedly after making controversial statements in other media, but in fact, due to his salary being considered too high for his modest weekly output. He was also a political columnist at Le Spectacle du Monde , a monthly publication by the Valeurs Actuelles group, from until it ceased publication in July Notably, in he published Le premier sexe "The First Sex" , a book on what he considers to be the feminisation of society.
