French far-right leader Jordan Bardella cancelled a planned speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, after Donald Trump’s former top adviser made a hand gesture on stage that Bardella and others likened to a Nazi salute. Steve Bannon yelled “fight, fight, fight” before extending his right arm, fingers pointed and palm down, during his CPAC speech on Thursday evening. Bardella, who leads France’s National Rally party, was already in Washington and had been scheduled to speak at the event on Friday. He said in a statement that he was cancelling his appearance over what he called a “gesture referring to Nazi ideology”. Bannon denied the Nazi comparison and called the gesture a “wave”, saying it was the “exact same wave” he did on stage at a speech seven years ago in France to Bardella’s party. “If he cancelled [the speech] over what the mainstream media said about the speech, he didn’t listen to the speech. If that’s true, he’s unworthy to lead France. He’s a boy, not a man,” Bannon told the French news magazine Le Point.
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