Macron Sues US Podcaster Over ‘Grotesque' Claim That French President's Wife Is A Man
French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron filed a defamation lawsuit in the United States against conservative American influencer Candace Owens, accusing her of spreading baseless and deeply offensive claims about Brigitte Macron's gender identity to boost her podcast's reach and profile.
The lawsuit alleged that Candace Owens launched a 'campaign of global humiliation" centered around the false claim that Brigitte Macron was born male under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux- the name of her older brother. The Macrons claimed that Candace Owens used this narrative to 'dissect their appearance, their marriage, their friends, their family and their personal history- twisting it all into a grotesque narrative designed to inflame and degrade."
'The result," the complaint read, 'is relentless bullying on a worldwide scale."
Rare Lawsuit by A Head Of State
The legal action is a rare move by a sitting world leader, particularly one filed in the US, where defamation cases involving public figures face an extremely high legal bar. To win, the Macrons must prove that Candace Owens acted with 'actual malice"- that she knowingly spread false information or showed reckless disregard for the truth.
The lawsuit also noted that speculation about Brigitte Macron's gender surfaced online in 2021 and has since been amplified on right-wing platforms, including podcasts hosted by Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan.
Candace Owens Calls Lawsuit 'Desperate PR Strategy'
In response, Candace Owens denied being notified in advance about the suit, though court filings said that lawyers from both sides have been in contact since January. Speaking on her podcast, Candace Owens dismissed the lawsuit as 'littered with factual inaccuracies" and described it as an 'obvious and desperate public relations strategy" meant to smear her character.
A spokesperson for Candace Owens accused the Macrons of trying to 'bully" her and cast the lawsuit as a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist.
In a joint statement released through their lawyers, the Macrons said they had issued three formal demands for Candace Owens to retract her defamatory claims before pursuing legal action.
'Ms. Owens's campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety," the statement said, adding, 'We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused."
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