Nadine Morano's Renaud-Renault howler - the song

You kind of knew it was going to happen.

It's barely a week since Nadine Morano, the minister in charge of apprenticeships and professional training, made a complete fool of herself during an interview on an early morning television programme.

Nadine Morano and Caroline Roux (screenshot La Matinale Canal +)

Her classic confusion of "Renaud", a French singer-songwriter with a distinctive "broken voice", with "Renault", the car manufacturer at the centre of the non-existent industrial espionage story, became an instant Internet hit and the object of plenty of ridicule.

Now though, an Internaut has come to her rescue - sort of.

Jérôme Niel aka La Ferme Jérôme (screenshot from video)

Jérôme Niel has written a song whose title uses the exact words in the question that so confused Morano, "Tous coupables sauf Carlos Ghosn" and performing it as - who else - but Renaud.

Just to refresh your memory, Morano was asked what she thought of the case of Renault in which everyone seemed to be guilty except its CEO Carlos Ghosn.

"J'aime, j'aime pas 'Tous coupables sauf Carlos Ghosn'," was what Morano was asked on an edition last week of La Matinale on Canal +.

And those words, as far as Niel were concerned, were at the nub of the minister's befuddlement.

"I watched the mistake Nadine Morano made and if you listen to the way the journalist (Caroline Roux) poses the question you can hear that it sounds like the title of a song 'Tous coupable sauf Carlos Ghosn'," he said.

"I thought why not simply use that as a starting point and I put it online and it has aroused a great deal of interest both on the Net and among the media."

Looking - sort of - and sounding - more so - like Renaud, Niel lets Morano of the hook in a manner of speaking, because her blunder is no longer as silly as it seemed!

Well that's if you can get over the fact of a politician being so ill-informed on what was the major domestic news story of the day.



Of course it's all a spoof and not the first time the web humorist has composed and performed such a parody.

There's more, much more on his blog La Ferme Jérôme and his Facebook page

No reaction from Morano herself yet - which is probably the best approach.

Nadine Morano's Renaud-Renault howler

Oh how we all love it when politicians make a complete ass of themselves.

It somehow makes them appear normal, vulnerable and heck - even renders them likeable.

Such was the case of Nadine Morano, the minister in charge of apprenticeships and professional training, when she appeared on Tuesday morning's edition of La Matinale on Canal +.

The penny drops for Nadine Morano (left) while Caroline Roux (right) can't quite believe her ears (screenshot from La Matinale on Canal +)

She was invited on to the programme to be interviewed by its political correspondent, Caroline Roux, in a segment that lasts around seven minutes.

And it was at the end of being asked how the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) was going to be able to put its house in order and avoid splitting that Morano made what was, even by her own admission, something of a howler.

Before reading any further you'll need to know a couple of things as background.

First of all there's Renault - as in the French car manufacturer which has been in the news over the past couple of months over the non-existent industrial espionage story.

It has all been rather a mess and an embarrassment, seeing three employees wrongly accused and this week forcing the resignation of some of its top managers.

Those resignations were one of the top domestic stories of the day. Remember that.

One person who has survived though is it's CEO - Carlos Ghosn. Remember that too.

Then there's Renaud - a singer-songwriter with a distinctive "broken voice" and some of whose songs have become popular classic in France. Here's one of his most famous ones, "Mistral gagnant"

Renault - Renaud: different spelling, same pronunciation.

For anyone one "not in the know" or who hadn't been reading the newspapers, turned on the radio or watched the telly it might be easy to confuse the two when asked a current affairs question.

But for a politician?

Here's what happened.

Roux had finished interviewing Morano and turned to the traditional round of quick-fire questions "J'aime, j'aime pas" (I like, I don't like) - a moment when she asks a guest their reaction to a major news story along the lines of "Do you like or don't you like....the role of France in the downfall of Laurent Gbagbo?" for example.

Actually that was one of the questions that proceeded Morano's "mistake".

"I like or I don't like - Renault - everyone is guilty except Carlos Ghosn?" asked Roux.

There was a moment's hesitation (presumably to collect her "thought" before Morano replied, "I like some of Renaud's songs," followed by a pause and accompanied by a growing look of incredulity from Roux.

"Not all of them," Morano continued.

"But I haven't heard that one. So I can't say whether or not I like it."

Roux, ever the professional and still not quite convinced that she has really heard what was just said then kindly but politely reminds Morano that "Everyone is guilty except Carlos Ghosn" isn't a song by Renaud.

"What is it?" asks Morano

"It's Renault which is settling scores in the case of industrial espionage," responds Roux.

Morano realises her "big mistake" as she describes it, and finally - after making excuses for her gaffe - answers the proper question.

But who cares? She had already provided the programme, viewers and Internauts of course, with more than enough merriment and proof that, once again, government ministers really have their fingers on the pulse of what's happening.

Ahem!


nadine morano et renaud francais 380268 mov hd par kiSScOOl1988

French automaker Renault faces opposition over new car name

Spare a thought for Zoé Renault.

The Parisian could be in for quite a ribbing if the French car manufacturer Renault (no relation apparently) goes ahead with rumoured plans to name its new electric zero emission car "Zoé".

She fears being the butt of many a cruel joke, and in an interview with the national daily Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France the 23-year-old student said she couldn't bear to hear constant referrals to "Zoé has broken down" or "Zoé needs to go in for a service" should the car manufacturer decide that's the name for the vehicle due be launched in 2012.

Renault (Zoé that is) has hired David Koubbi, a lawyer who, the BBC says "specialises in the protection of first names" and he has already sent a letter to the car giant's CEO Carlos Ghosn urging him and others to think again.

And in his letter Koubbi takes up the cause not just of the 23-year-old but also all the other Zoés throughout France - a growing number apparently as there are already more than 30,000 and it figured among the most popular girls names in 2009.

"My clients strongly oppose the intention of your company to use the name Zoé for a car," the letter says in an extract published in the newspaper.

"They see this as an infringement of their personal rights," it continues.

"You'll certainly understand that parents have carefully considered the name they give their child and it's intolerable to see it trivialised and exploited for purely commercial and marketing purposes."

For its part Renault seems to be taking the issue seriously with a spokesperson telling the newspaper that the name was only one given to a concept car and there had been no decision taken as to what it would be called.

"We completely understand the reaction of this young woman," the car manufacturer told the newspaper.

"At the moment it's a name given just to a concept car and one which was chosen because it sounded good, is short, dynamic and easy to use for sales abroad and just as importantly contains the letters 'Z' and 'E' for 'Zero Emissions'."

Not necessarily an explanation with which the 23-year-old is in happy.

"In Greek 'Zoé' means 'life'," she told the newspaper.

"And it's a name my parents gave me when I was born because they wanted me have one that was different from other girls and it was also a symbol because my father was ill at the time," she continued.

"I don't want my identity to be associated with a car for my whole life. It would be unbearable."