French president, first lady sue Nashville influencer Candace Owens for 'relentless bullying'
The Macrons said in a lawsuit filed in Delaware Superior Court that Owens has waged a lie-filled "campaign of global humiliation" and "relentless bullying" to promote her podcast and expand her "frenzied" fan base.
The filings are referring to a 6-part video series Owens began earlier this year titled 'Becoming Brigitte,' in which Owens accuses Brigitte Macron, 72, of being born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux—the actual name of her older brother.
The lawsuit accuses Owens of spreading 'outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions' such as Brigitte Macron being a man who 'stole another person's identity, and transitioned to become Brigitte; Mrs. Macron and President Macron are blood relatives committing incest; President Macron was chosen to be the President of France as part of the CIA-operated MKUltra program or a similar mind-control program; and Mrs. Macron and President Macron are committing forgery, fraud, and abuses of power to conceal these secrets.'
"Every time the Macrons leave their home, they do so knowing that countless people have heard, and many believe, these vile fabrications," the complaint said. "It is invasive, dehumanizing, and deeply unjust."
The 22-count complaint seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages, as well as a jury trial. The Macrons are being represented by Clare Lock, a boutique defamation law firm that settled against Fox News in 2023 on behalf of Dominion voting systems following the network's claims of Dominion rigging the 2020 election.
In a video livestreamed on her YouTube channel Wednesday afternoon, Owens announced that she had been 'sued by the first lady man of France.'
'This is just goofy,' she said.
Conservative-media: Is Nashville the nation's new conservative-media nerve center?
Owens went on to call the lawsuit an 'obvious and desperate public relations strategy,' and recommended that Macron fire 'everyone' who told her it was a 'very good idea' to be the first sitting first lady of a foreign country to 'file a lawsuit against a journalist of another country.'
'You are literally making history in all the wrong ways,' she said.
Owens, who moved to Nashville in 2020, previously teased a second season of the video series, claiming to have information that could force Emmanuel Macron to 'step down.'
'My series has been the undoing of them,' she said.
Wednesday's lawsuit is a rare case of a world leader suing for defamation. President Donald Trump has filed multiple defamation lawsuits, including against the publisher of The Wall Street Journal last week.
To prevail in U.S. defamation cases, public figures like the Macrons and Trump must show defendants engaged in "actual malice," meaning they knew what they published was false or had reckless disregard for its truth.
Reuters reporters Jonathan Stempel and Michel Rose contributed to this report.
The USA TODAY Network - The South region's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.
Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 931-623-9485, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville influencer Candace Owens sued by French president
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