French President and Wife Sue Us Podcaster Claims Brigitte Macron Born Male
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife filed a defamation lawsuit against right-wing influencer and Podcaster Candace Owens in the United States on Wednesday after she claimed Brigitte Macron was a male.
Macron said in a lawsuit filed in the Delaware Superior Court that Owens launched a “global humiliation campaign” full of lies to promote her podcast and expand her “crazy” fan base.
The couple said the lies included 72-year-old Brigitte Macron born to her brother’s actual name Jean-Michel Trogneux.
“Owens has dissected their appearance, marriage, friends, family, and their personal history, twisting them into a weird narrative designed to inflame and degenerate,” the complaint said.
It added, “The result is ruthless bullying on a global scale.”
After Brigitte Macron rejected Owens’ repeated requests for interviews, an Owens spokesman claimed the lawsuit itself was an effort to bully her.
“Candace Owens did not shut up,” the spokesman said. “This is a First Amendment right of a foreign government to attack the independent American journalist.”
Macron said in a joint statement issued by his attorney that they sued after Owens refused to withdraw three requests for the defamatory statement.
“Ms. Owens’s slander campaign is designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to draw attention and notoriety,” Macron said. “We gave her all the chance to get rid of these claims, but she refused.”
Rare world leader prosecution
Wednesday’s lawsuit is a rare case of world leaders suing for defamation.
U.S. President Donald Trump has also turned to court, including a $10 billion lawsuit accusing the Wall Street Journal of slandering him, claiming he created a lustful birthday greeting for the late late financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.
The journal said it would defend the case and be confident in its report.
Meanwhile, Trump reached a $15 million U.S. settlement with Walt Disney-owned ABC in December, as he claimed the jury was responsible for rape rather than sexual assault in civil lawsuits.
To gain the upper hand in U.S. defamation cases, public figures must show that the defendants engage in “actual malice”, which is a difficult legal standard, and need to prove that the defendants know that the content they published is false, or that they have recklessly ignored its truth.
Owens has over 6.9 million followers on social media platform X and over 4.5 million YouTube subscribers.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office is downplaying a moment on a plane, with one of the women, later his wife, Brigitte, seemingly pushing Macron’s face away at the moment the camera caught from the apron.
Macron’s lawsuit focuses on eight-part podcasts Become Bridgetwith over 2.3 million views on YouTube, X posts link to it.
According to Macro, the series spreads “visible mistakes and devastating lies”, including Brigitte Macron stealing another person’s identity and transforming into a woman, while Macro is the blood relative who causes incest.
The complaint discussed the macro-meeting situation, when the 47-year-old president was a high school student and Brigitte was a teacher. It says their relationship “stays within the scope of the law.”
According to the complaint, unfounded speculation about Brigitte Macron’s gender began to surface in 2021, and the topic has already discussed the popular American podcast hosted by Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan, who have many conservative followers.
In September, Brigitte Macron won a lawsuit against two women, including self-proclaimed media, in French court, who promoted rumors about her gender.
The Court of Appeal overturned the ruling this month, with Brigitte Macron appealing to the French Supreme Court.
