PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte apologized for being caught calling feminist activists sales connes — which roughly translates to “stupid bitches”— but said she should be able to speak her mind away from the cameras. Interviewed by online news outlet Brut, Macron insisted that her remarks were made in private — she was attending a show by comedian Ary Abittan, who had been accused of rape in a case which was later dismissed — and that she would not have used these words in public. “I’m sorry if I hurt female victims [of sexual assault],” Macron said. She then added: “I’m the president’s wife, but I’m also myself, and in a private context, I can let myself loose in a way which isn’t appropriate … people have the right to [freely] speak and think.” In a since-deleted clip published by gossip outlet Public, Macron is seen asking comedian Abittan, before his performance, how he is doing, to which he responds that he is “afraid,” likely referring to the possibility of protesters interrupting his show. The French first lady then responds: “If there are stupid bitches, we’ll toss them out.” A small group of activists wearing cardboard masks with Abittan’s face attempted to interrupt a show in Paris, yelling “Abittan rapist” while being pushed back by security, video published by French outlet Le Média showed. Macron’s comments drew outrage from French politicians, feminist organizations and film industry celebrities alike. The hashtag #JeSuisUneSaleConne (#IAmAStupidBitch), launched in solidarity with the protesters, was shared by several high-profile figures, including Judith Godrèche — a French actress who has played a central role in confronting sexual violence in the film industry — and Oscar winner Marion Cotillard. Abittan is on his first tour since investigating judges decided not to charge him with a crime after he was accused of rape. While the plaintiff was found to have suffered post-traumatic stress, justice officials said they could not establish sufficient grounds to determine that the sexual encounter had been forced. Abittan has denied wrongdoing and said the act was consensual.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte sparked outrage after calling feminist protesters sales connes — roughly translated as “stupid bitches” — backstage at a comedy show. In a since-deleted clip published by gossip outlet Public, Brigitte Macron is seen asking comedian Ary Abittan before his performance how he is doing, to which the former responds that he is “afraid,” likely referencing the possibility of protesters interrupting his show. Abittan is on his first tour since investigating judges decided not to charge him with a crime after he was accused of rape. While the plaintiff was found to have suffered post-traumatic stress, justice officials said they could not establish sufficient grounds to determine that the sexual encounter had been forced. Abittan has denied wrongdoing and said the act was consensual. After Abittan said he was afraid, the French first lady responded: “if there are stupid bitches, we’ll toss them out.” Abittan’s return was protested by the feminist group Nous Toutes, whose members disrupted the show to denounce what they called a “communication campaign aimed at portraying him as a traumatized person while humiliating and belittling the victim.” In a statement to French newswire AFP published Monday, Macron’s office said the remark should be understood as “criticism of the radical methods used by those who disrupted and obstructed Ary Abittan’s show.” Condemnation came from political figures across party lines, as well as activists and film industry professionals. Marine Tondelier, head of the French Greens, called the remark “extremely grave” and conservative Senator Agnès Evren described it as “very sexist.” Prisca Thévenot, a lawmaker from the president’s party and former government spokesperson, deemed the comment “inelegant.” “When it comes to women fighting against violence against women, we don’t speak that way,” former President François Hollande said Tuesday on RTL. Judith Godrèche, the French actress who has played a central role in confronting sexual violence in the film industry, took to Instagram to criticize Macron. “I too am a stupid bitch. And I support all the others,” she wrote.

PARIS — Brigitte Macron’s youngest daughter testified in court on behalf of her mother on Tuesday as part of the family’s effort to forcefully combat transphobic rumors that the French first lady was assigned male at birth. “Not a week goes by without someone telling her about this,” Tiphaine Auzières told the court. “She cannot ignore all the horrible things people say about her.” Auzières was the sole witness to take the stand in a two-day trial of 10 people charged with cyberbullying Macron by sharing messages on X promoting conspiracy theories that metastasized online. The claims included that her mother was assigned male at birth; is transgender; or was born under her brother’s name, Jean-Michel Trogneux, before assuming a new identity — an allegation first circulated by fringe French conspiratorial outlet Faits et Documents. A verdict is expected later Tuesday evening. Auzières said the conspiracy theories had made it “impossible” for her mother “to have a normal life.” When asked about her uncle Jean-Michel, she testified she had seen him “a few months ago” and that he was “doing very well.” The 10 defendants — eight men and two women from their 40s to their 60s — cut an unlikely cross-section of France. They range from a well-off computer scientist working in Switzerland to a heavily disabled man “who spends a lot of time on Twitter,” a self-described spiritual medium crippled by debt and a soft-spoken deputy mayor in a rural town. The messages read aloud in court swung between crude jokes about Brigitte Macron’s alleged gender identity, conspiracy theories about a media cover-up, and sneers at the 24-year age gap between her and the president. Most cited free expression in their defense, invoking the legacy of Charlie Hebdo — the satirical weekly famed for its provocative cartoons and its defiance in the face of the 2015 terrorist attack on the magazine that left 12 people dead. Auzières said the widespread rumors had led her mother to change her behavior, constantly worrying that the way she dressed or presented herself could be used by conspiracy theorists to attack her. She also said her mother had grown “anxious” that her seven grandchildren could face bullying at school. While she was not on trial, the impact of American far-right influencer Candace Owens was palpable throughout the proceedings. Several defendants had shared videos about Macron by Owens, who is being sued by the French presidential couple in a separate case in Delaware, or said they had been influenced by her content. Presented during the trial as a key node in spreading the rumor, Aurélien Poirson-Atlan also tried to shift responsibility onto Owens. Poirson-Atlan, whose X account, ZoeSagan, once counted hundreds of thousands of followers before being suspended last summer, claimed he was “being used as a replacement for Ms. Owens” in the proceedings. One of the cited posts he published was a translation of a post by Owens. Brigitte Macron, 72, met her current husband Emmanuel when he was her teenage student at a private school in Amiens, a city about 1.5 hours north of Paris. The Macrons’ U.S. lawsuit states that “at all times, the teacher-student relationship between Mrs. Macron and President Macron remained within the bounds of the law.” The suit also provides pictures of Brigitte as a child and of her first marriage in 1974.

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte plan to provide “scientific” evidence to prove that France’s first lady is not a transgender woman after suing far-right influencer Candace Owens for defamation the United States. Owens has repeatedly put forward transphobic allegations that Brigitte was assigned male at birth and had “groomed” a teenage Emmanuel Macron before transitioning to female. France’s first couple brought legal action against Owens this summer. “We’re prepared to demonstrate fully both generically and specifically that what she’s saying about Brigitte Macron is false,” the Macrons’ American lawyer Tom Clare said on the BBC’s “Fame Under Fire” podcast. Clare said during the trial there would be “expert testimony that will come out that will be scientific in nature.”  POLITICO has reached out to representatives for both Clare and Owens for comment. Owens previously accused the Macrons of using the suit to try to bully a reporter into submission. Brigitte, a mother of three, met Emmanuel — 24 years her junior — while teaching at a high school in Amiens, where the future president was her student. In August, the French president said he and his wife “had to” sue Owens in order to “have the truth respected,” despite the risk of triggering the so-called Streisand effect — drawing more attention to something by trying to suppress it. Clare added that the president and his spouse would also testify and said the process is “incredibly intrusive for this family” but would ultimately demonstrate “how confident they are in their ability to prove it is false in an open forum.”