It wasn't something subtle with room for interpretation, but outwards intolerance (not just racism) from the people themselves. It's generally passed off as a joke (ie. saying don't blow it up or don't steal anything jokingly to a muslim), but repeated multiple times a week. It doesn't seem to be specific to one region or industry.

The French word to describe the culture I was exposed to at work would be "beauf". What kind of talented person would take a pay cut to work in such an environment?