French president Emmanuel Macron angered fans with his weekend speech at the G20 Summit that suggested Africa has “civilizational” problems which might be related to women having “7 or 8” kids.

Macron says Africa’s problems are “civilizational” and blames women with “7 or 8” kids. A repugnant speech. pic.twitter.com/4BqwDb7fqE — joe prince (@joeprince___) July 10, 2017

The full quote shows that the comment about “7 or 8” kids was just one of many “challenges” Macron attributes to Africa.

“The challenge of Africa is completely different, it is much deeper. It is civilizational today,” Macron said, according to one English translation. “Failing states, complex democratic transitions, the demographic transition…One of the essential challenges of Africa…one of the eight countries, that today has seven or eight children born to each woman.”

Here is the English translation of Macron’s remarks. he tried to numb the clear racism of his comments with policy wonk jargon. pic.twitter.com/jZk5hpg9MC — joe prince (@joeprince___) July 10, 2017

Macron was considered to be the “centrist” candidate as compared to “far-right” challenger Marine Le Pen. However, many are latching on to his comments about “civilizational” and “7 or 8 kids” as a reason to reconsider if Macron is really as “centrist” as they once believed.

Uh oh… golden boy Macron said some really dumb things about Africa and now the honeymoon is over. — Milena Rodban (@MilenaRodban) July 10, 2017

Macron made those comments about Africa on Saturday. Little to no coverage in French press. — Cole Stangler (@ColeStangler) July 10, 2017

Macron: My jupiterian thoughts are too complex for you simple people to understand Also Macron: Africa is dumb & pops out too many babies — Shafik Mandhai (@ShafikFM) July 10, 2017

Trump’s speech about “western civilization” and Macron’s comments about “problem of civilization Africa” come from the same white supremacy. — Zeru (@DoubleStraps) July 10, 2017

Africa’s problems are “civilisational” says Macron, also because women have 7/8 children each. James Baldwin wrote beautifully about this— https://t.co/eypuaEgCz9 — fatima bhutto (@fbhutto) July 10, 2017

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