French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, are suing right-wing political pundit Candace Owens, who said that the First Lady of France is a man, the New York Times reports.
Filed in Delaware Superior Court on Wednesday, the suit accuses Owens of making false claims to “promote her independent platform, gain notoriety and make money.”
In March 2024, Owens “told the world” she would stake her “entire professional reputation” that Ms. Macron is, in fact, a man.” She made the claim on her podcast the claim on her podcast abd in a post on X.
Any journalist or publication that is trying to dismiss this plausibility is immediately identifiable as establishment. I have never seen anything like this in my life. The implications here are terrifying,” her post read.
In a lawsuit totaling 200 pages, the Macrons are suing for “22 counts of defamation and related claims, and are seeking actual and punitive damages (the amount was not specified), as well as legal costs.”
Ms. Owens “disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim,” the filing says, and “rather than engage with President and Mrs. Macron’s attempts to set the record straight, Owens mocked them and used them as additional fodder for her frenzied fan base.”
“Because Ms. Owens systematically reaffirmed these falsehoods in response to each of our attorneys’ repeated requests for a retraction, we ultimately concluded that referring the matter to a court of law was the only remaining avenue for remedy,” the Macrons’ statement read.
Mitchell Jackson, a rep for Owens, said his client has not been served and heard about the suit through the news media.
“Candace Owens is not shutting up,” Mr. Jackson said. “This is a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist.”
In addition to Owen’s, her media company and the company that runs her website are named in the suit.
