The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte Macron, have filed a defamation lawsuit against the rightwing US commentator Candace Owens. The suit, lodged on Wednesday in Delaware, accuses Owens of making false and harmful claims about the couple to boost her media platform and generate revenue.
Owens has alleged that Brigitte Macron is a man, that the Macrons are blood relatives committing incest, and that President Macron was installed by the CIA through a mind-control programme. The Macrons' legal team stated that Owens refused to retract these 'demonstrably false' claims despite multiple requests, instead mocking them and using the controversy to engage her audience.
The lawsuit details that Owens launched an eight-part podcast series called 'Becoming Brigitte' to propagate these falsehoods. The Macrons said the defamation campaign has caused them 'global humiliation' and required them to spend significant sums on legal counsel to correct the public record. They expressed hope that the lawsuit will 'set the record straight'.
Represented by the law firm Clare Locke, which secured a major victory in the Dominion Voting Systems case against Fox News, the Macrons are prepared to appear in court in Delaware. Owens' spokesperson responded by asserting that the commentator would 'not shut up', framing the lawsuit as a foreign government attacking American free speech rights.
The case highlights a broader trend of false gender rumours targeting prominent women, as noted in a 2021 Wilson Center report. The Macrons have previously faced similar attacks, but Owens' amplification has brought the issue to a wider audience.
