Macron: Why I had to sue US influencer Candace Owens
Asked about his action for punitive damages against the hard-right political commentator Candace Owens, Macron, 47, said he was aware that he and Brigitte risked provoking a so-called Streisand effect — creating extra negative publicity by attempting to suppress it.
'They advised us not to sue,' he told Paris Match magazine. 'But it has taken on such magnitude in the United States that we had to act.'
Candace Owens called the lawsuit 'goofy'
OCTAVIO JONES/REUTERS
Since last year, Owens, 36, whose YouTube channel has four million subscribers, has been promoting a five-year-old French conspiracy theory that Brigitte Macron, 72, was a man who changed gender.
Since the Macrons' suit, Owens has intensified her claims , mocking the libel action as both 'goofy' and a 'vicious public relations' move aimed at silencing the truth.
• French right try to unpick Macron's loan of Bayeux Tapestry to UK
The Macrons decided that they had no choice, the president said. 'They're talking about the identity of the first lady of France, of a wife, mother and grandmother … It's a matter of defending my honour.'
He took a swipe at the Trump administration, dismissing American claims that suits such as his were attempts to stifle free speech. 'Those who talk about this supposed freedom of speech are the people who ban journalists from the Oval Office. I don't accept that,' he said.
The Macrons at Huis ten Bosch Palace in the Hague for the Nato summit on June 24
PATRICK VAN KATWIJK/GETTY IMAGES
President Trump's staff have excluded several elements of the mainstream media, including the Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg, from certain White House events while granting access to right-wing influencers. JD Vance, the vice-president, has claimed that European governments are using laws to curb free speech.
Owens 'knew very well that she was using false news to cause damage, in the service of an ideology and with established connections with the far right', Macron said.
In the 22-count suit lodged in Delaware, the Macrons' US lawyers have sought a jury trial, seeking compensation and punitive damages for spreading 'verifiably false and devastating lies'. Owens has said she is 'fully prepared to take on this battle' and promised to fight in the courts.
The lawsuit claims that Owens ignored repeated requests to retract her claims and continues to earn substantial sums of money with the false claims. No trial date has been set.
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