Former broadcaster and Maori Party candidate Derek Fox has been slammed for suggesting Charlie Hebdo's chief editor "paid the price" for his "bigotry" and "arrogance".

Stephane Charbonnier was one of 12 people murdered by Islamist gunmen in Paris overnight.

NZME. reports that Mr Fox posted on Facebook that Charbonnier believed he could insult other peoples culture and with impunity and he would be protected in his racism and bigotry by the French state.

National Party list MP Chris Bishop calls it a "horrific, ridiculous, shameful comment", adding that supporting freedom of speech was a human right, not "cultural supremacy".