French first lady caught on video insulting feminist protesters
Macron responds to this insult in a playful tone, saying that if the protesters return, “we will throw them out.”
After the video was posted online, #NousToutes turned the insult into a hashtag that was quickly reshared by countless feminist activists and artists across France.
Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron at the British Museum in London earlier this year.Credit: Bloomberg
A spokesman for the French presidency stated that “Mrs. Macron’s sole intention was to reassure an artist” and added that “she is in no way attacking a cause.”
Instead, the spokesman said Macron “condemned the radical methods used to prevent an artist from performing on stage.”
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Marine Tondelier, head of the centre-left opposition Green Party, said in a television interview on Monday that she was “extremely shocked” by the change. “A first lady shouldn’t be saying that,” Tondelier added.
But Public Accounts Minister Amelie de Montchalin said in a TV interview on Tuesday: “I think we all use words that are part of everyday language and understand how it can lead to frustration and therefore comments for an artist to be prevented from doing their job for reasons that have nothing to do with the performance.”
He added of Macron: “He did not hold a press conference to say this; these were comments taken from a private sphere.”
Macron’s use of the insult comes less than two months after the trial of 10 people accused of cyberbullying the first lady by spreading false claims about her gender and marriage.
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In July, Macron and her husband filed a defamation lawsuit against American right-wing podcaster Candace Owens, who repeated the allegations. The case has not yet gone to court.
In October, Owens filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which the Macrons opposed last week.
When Emmanuel Macron was first elected in 2017, he talked about “the fight to completely eliminate violence against women”.
But feminists say France still hasn’t adequately confronted the #MeToo era.
Macron has come under criticism in recent years for supporting actor Gerard Depardieu, who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault.
When new allegations against the actor emerged in 2023, Macron described himself as an “admirer” of Depardieu, who “made France proud”.
In May, Depardieu was convicted of sexually assaulting two women on the set of a movie in 2021.
This article was first published on: New York Times.
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