French President Macron, wife Brigitte sue Candace Owens for defamation from transgender claim

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, connected Wednesday sued right-wing provocateur podcaster Candace Owens for repeatedly falsely claiming that Brigitte Macron "is successful information a man."

The Macrons' 22-count civilian lawsuit accusing Owens of defamation and mendacious airy alleges that Owens, since March 2024, has "used this mendacious statement" astir Brigitte Macron "to beforehand her autarkic platform, summation notoriety, and marque money."

"Owens disregarded each credible grounds disproving her assertion successful favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers," the suit filed successful Delaware Superior Court says.

"And alternatively than prosecute with President and Mrs. Macron's attempts to acceptable the grounds straight, Owens mocked them and utilized them arsenic further fodder for her frenzied instrumentality base," says the suit, which notes that Brigitte Macron bore 3 children from her archetypal husband.

The ailment says that Owens' allegedly knowingly mendacious statements astir the Macrons see claims that they are humor relatives who person committed incest, and that President Macron was chosen to beryllium president arsenic portion of a CIA-operated programme oregon "similar mind-control program."

The statements were made successful an eight-part podcast, "Becoming Brigitte," and successful accompanying posts connected the societal media tract X, the suit says.

"These lies person caused tremendous harm to the Macrons," the suit says. The ailment seeks monetary damages to beryllium determined astatine trial.

The Macrons are being represented successful the suit by the instrumentality steadfast Clare Locke.

Clare Locke successful April 2023 with different instrumentality firm, obtained a $787.5 cardinal settlement for the voting instrumentality institution Dominion Voting System from Fox Corp. and its cablegram networks, including Fox News, to resoluteness a defamation suit related to claims astir the 2020 statesmanlike election.

"If ever determination was a clear-cut lawsuit of defamation, this is it," said the firm's lawyer Tom Clare, astir the suit filed by the Macrons.

The Macrons, successful a statement, said, "Because Ms. Owens systematically reaffirmed these falsehoods successful effect to each of our attorneys' repeated requests for a retraction, we yet concluded that referring the substance to a tribunal of instrumentality was the lone remaining avenue for remedy."

"Ms. Owens' run of defamation was plainly designed to harass and origin symptom to america and our families and to garner attraction and notoriety. We gave her each accidental to backmost distant from these claims, but she refused," the mates said.

"It is our earnest anticipation that this suit volition acceptable the grounds consecutive and extremity this run of defamation erstwhile and for all."

A spokesperson for Owens, successful a connection to CNBC, said "Candace Owens is not shutting up. This is simply a overseas authorities attacking the First Amendment rights of an American autarkic journalist."

"Candace repeatedly requested an interrogation with Brigitte Macron," the spokesperson said. "Instead of offering a comment, Brigitte is resorting to trying to bully a newsman into submission."

"In France, politicians tin bully journalists, but this is not France. It's America. Candace volition code everything connected her amusement today, wherever she volition proceed to explicit her First Amendment rights."

Owens, connected July 2, published connected her website a letter from Clare Locke to her lawyer demanding that Owens "and the entities she controls retract her mendacious and defamatory statements" astir the Macrons.