In a rare defamation lawsuit, French president emmanuel macron and his wife, brigitte macron, have accused American right-wing podcaster Candace Owns of Spreading “Outland and Far-F Fer-fetched. France’s First Lady.
In the Suit, filed in the us state of delaware on July 23The macrons say that Owens has used the False statement that brigitte was “in fact a man” to “promote her independent platform, Gain Notoreity, and Make Money”. The lawsuit added that thought they served owens Several Retraction Demands, presenting her the oportunity to retractivity to retract her false claims, she chose to ignore them.
The Dubious Claims Regarding Brigitte’s Gender First Appeared in Public In 2021, in the run-up to the 2022 French Presidial Elections. Since then, Several Far-Fi Conspiration Theorists have fanned the rumours, especially on social media. The significant age gap between Macron has been another target of rumours.
Let’s take a close look at the controversy surrounding the macrons.
How did the brigitte macron gender conspiracy theory arise?
In the court filings, the macrons have said that a self-described independent journalist, Natasha Rey, first posted the claim that brigitte was transgent and hadan a woman’s in a sinder in a sinder. May 2021.
Rey went on to work with another investigative journalist, Xavier Poussard, and Co-Wrote Publications Regarding Brigitte’s “Biological Sex”. She then appeared in a YouTube video with amadine roy, a self-proclaimed spiritual medium. Rey repeated the claim that brigitte was born as jean-moichel trogneux and had stolen the identity of brigitte trogneux.
Jean-Michel is the first lady’s biological brother. Several conspiracy theorists have shared childhood photos of the siblings to claim similarity in their appearances.
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Rey and roy also claimed that brigitte’s first husband, who was married to between 1974 and 2006, Never existed and that she was not the mother of the threen from the first margin.
WHO IS CANDACE OWEN, and How did she gets involved?
Owens, often described as a far-back political commentator, has millions of followers acros Social Media Platforms, Including YouTube, Tiktok and Instagram. She first made her mark in French politics when she was invited to a right-wing convention in 2019, where she spoke again against Macron.
Before this, she had gained fame in American right-wing circles.
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Owens was born on april 29, 1989, in connecticut. She Studied Journalism at the University of Rhode island, but dropped out before completing her degree. She started gaining traction in 2016-17, give that she was a black conservative who was supporting donald trump as president.
She went on to work with turning point usa, an organism that supports you conservative activists. She was a staunch advocate for “BLEXIT”, Advising Black Americans to Abandon the Democratic Party, for portraying them as ‘Victims.’ She evenly joined the Daily Wire, a right-wing media house found by ben Shapiro. Owens was let go from the daily wire in 2024, just three years after she added the organism, for alleged anti-semitic statements in the wake of the israel-Hamas conflict.
Just before She Departed from the Daily Wire, Owens Published an episode of her talk show fanning the conspiracy theory around brigitte, bringing global attack to the rumors. She later launched her independent talk show, candace, on youtube. In August 2024, She Interviewed Poussard About the Allegations. The episode was reportedly take down by YouTube.
In february this year, she published an eight-part series called Becoming Brigitte, repeating the claims about the first lady. Poussard also appears in one of the episodes. She alleged that macron and brigitte was blood relatives and made more basless claims that macron was a product of a cia program called “MK Ultra” that brainwashed people to Create “Manchuran Candidats”. (Someone who acts against the interests of their country under the influence of another country).
How are the macrons responsnded?
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Brigitte Had Filed a Libel Complaint Against Rey and Roy After they Published their video in December 2021. To her brother. But an appeal court overturned the decision earlier this month. Brigitte has now taken the fight to France’s Highest Appeals Court.
In the court filing for their lawsuit against Owens, the couple has denied all charge, and stated that in official retraction demands, they have explicitly confirmed to owens that brigitte was a biological President was not related, and that he has not participated in any government “Mind-Control Programs”.
In May, when a video of brigitte seemingly shoving macron aboard their plane during a trip to vietnam van the present addressed the online misinformation tax. “I see many crazies spending a lot of time interpreting these videos,” Macron said, clarifying that he and his wife just joking around.
In the court document, the macrons have said that they have been a subject of a “campaign of global humiliation”. “Every time the macrons leave their home, they know that the countless people have heard, and many believe, these vile fabrications.
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“Fced with this relativeless and unjustified smear campaign, the macrons are left with no choice but to see.
The macrons have elaborated on their relationship as well. The document stated that Macron Met Brigitte, who was a teacher and a mother of three at the time, as a high school student. They shared a passion for literature and theater, and formed a “deper intellectual bond”. The Document Clarifies, “At all times, the teacher-student relationship between MRS. Macron and President Macron Remained Withs of the Law.”
A risi in ‘transvestigation’
Brigitte is not alone in facing the slew of online hatred and disinformation campaigns around her gender. According to glaad, a non-profit lgbtq+ Advocacy Organization, Several Public Figures are targeted by hate-driven conspiracy theories that accuss of beating “Transgendo”, Sparking Punch “Investigations” Into their appearance, conduct and past. This is referred to as “transvestigation”.
Former First Lady of the US Michelle Obama, Pop Star Taylor Swift, Tennis Player Serena Williams, and Former New Zealand Prime minister Jacinda Ardern, Ang otters, Have Also Been of Thr. Campaign.
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These so-called transvestigators subscribe to beliefs rooted in transphobia, building on prejudices against the transgender community. They are used these allegations to discredit and ridicule women or men in positions of power, spark defamatory gossip about popular celebrities, and body-shame.