Shortly after the beginning of the first round, Dupont-Aignan denounced Emmanuel Macron, saying that he "served the interests of the rich" and accused Serge Dassault, the owner of "Le Figaro", of harassing him through text messages in an attempt to get him to renounce his candidacy in endorsement of François Fillon. "Le Figaro" denies that Dupont-Aignan was harassed though does not deny text messages were exchanged between the two. On 22 April, Dupont-Aignan organised a petition demanding that three televised debates be shown during the first round with all candidates appearing at the debates. Because he was not invited to the first debate, he left prematurely and denounced TF1 for what he called a "lack of democracy".