One would hope that an economist would pay more attention to the numbers. In 2024, Puy du Fou celebrated a record season: the park founded by Philippe de Villiers nearly 50 years ago and dedicated to the History of France welcomed nearly three million visitors in 2024, consolidating its place as 3rd most visited French park, after Disneyland Paris and Parc Astérix.
However, this Wednesday, January 22, on the Estelle Midi set on RMC, the economist Pierre Rondeau chose to attack these three million people head-on. And this, in not very delicate terms. “Puy du Fou is when redneck-land meets redneck-land at the crossroads of a library and they have the feeling of learning”he blurted. Facing him, the journalist Frédéric Hermel immediately criticizes him for his ” contempt “ for the Vendée park and its visitors, but Pierre Rondeau persists and signs… while denigrating his interlocutor in the process. “Maybe you learned history at McDonald’s?” ». Taken aback, Frédéric Hermel replied that he had been trained in History by “the school of the Republic”.
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Former economic advisor within the Socialist Party under the responsibility of François Hollande and active member of Benoît Hamon's presidential campaign in 2017, Pierre Rondeau has not abandoned the ideological fight by joining the world of media. However, Philippe Rondeau's job is not to analyze the world of leisure or the History of France… but to comment on the economic news of sport. His exit from the road did not fail to astonish many Internet users who, on social networks, castigated deplorable and unfounded statements. “The level of contempt is stratospheric”, “Puy du Fou is the combination of history and legend. This economist should go back to his subtractions”we can read in particular on X, in reaction to this media sequence.
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In fact, Pierre Rondeau's crude remarks are surprising: the Parc des “rednecks” and “rednecks” is not only acclaimed by a wide audience, but also by international specialist critics. In March 2024, Puy du Fou received in Los Angeles one of the most prestigious awards in the world, the Thea Award for Best Show, for its latest creation “Le Mime et l’Étoile”, featuring the love story between a Gypsy and a film star at the beginning of the 20th century. At the beginning of March, the park had already received two Brass Ring Live Entertainment Excellence Awards, the equivalent of the Golden Globes in cinema. Prizes in addition to other international awards accumulated in recent years.
-The so-called park “rednecks” also aimed at young people, launching at the end of 2024 The Panachea magazine for 8-13 year olds celebrating French heritage, through historical stories and cultural sections. Because arousing interest in History is one of the missions of Puy du Fou. And if the economist fantasizes about a “History learned at McDonald’s”schools choose to take their students to the Vendée park, precisely to pass on to them a taste for this discipline. Thus, no less than 670 groups of young people and students were welcomed in 2023.
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Perhaps, we are tempted to understand, Pierre Rondeau simply never set foot in Puy du Fou?
