Washington – French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron filed a defamation complaint against the host of the right podcast Candace Owens on Wednesday in response to the affirmations that the first lady of France was born a man.
THE Complaint of 22 counts Was tabled at the Superior Court of Delaware and requests an undeveloped amount of Damages of Owens, which broadcast a series in eight parts broadcasting a host of allegations concerning macrons, including that Brigitte Macron was born a man, stole the identity of another person and passing to a woman.
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The macrons declared in the trial that Owens had pushed three distinct requests for retraction, the first coming in December and the final sent on July 1, and continued to push “bizarre, defamatory and eccentric fictions” on the French president and the first lady.
“These statements are clearly false and Owens knew they were false when she published them,” said the trial. “However, she still published them. And reason is clear: it is not the continuation of the truth, but the pursuit of glory.”
Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron declared in a statement that they had decided to submit their trial after Owens doubled the lies despite requests for withdrawal from their lawyers.
“Ms. Owens’ defamation campaign was clearly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and attract attention and notoriety,” they said. “We have given her every opportunity to retreat from these statements, but she refused. We hope that this trial will put the record and put an end to this defamation campaign once and for all.”
In response to the trial, an Owens spokesman said: “Candace Owens does not close. It is a foreign government attacking the rights of the first amendment of an American independent journalist. Candace has repeatedly asked for an interview with Brigitte Macron. Instead of offering a comment, Brigitte recourse to journalists in Bully, but to an American.
On Wednesday afternoon, Owens was put online on YouTube in response to the defamation trial, calling a public relations strategy, and she refused to retreat from her complaint against Brigitte Macron. She started her livestream with a clip from the film “Gladiator” in which the character of Russell Crowe exclaimed “are you not entertained?”
“This is why you are here,” Owens told his audience. “This is what I’m feeling right now. I’m getting my papers today.”
“If you read this … Brigitte challenges me and intentionally throughout the file. That said that all these things are false, attributes to me the quotes that I have never said,” she said, browsing certain parts of the file.
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The trial aims at Owens to promote unfounded theories and distribute disinformation and said it was aimed at “igniting and attracting attention through theories of sensationalism and conspiracy”. He alleges that the podcaster published the series in eight parts on the macrons, entitled “Become Brigitte” and related articles on X with a reckless contempt for the truth.
“These lies have caused enormous macron damage,” said the costume. Owens and its entities, continue, “subjected macrons to a global humiliation campaign, transforming their life into fodder for lies to profit. Owens dissected their appearance, their marriage, their friends, their family and their personal history – everything is useless in a designed grotesque narration.”
Macron has been president of France since 2017. He and Brigitte Macron were married in 2007.
In addition to appointing Owens as a defendant, the costume names his business, Candace Owens LLC, and the operator of his website, Georgetom, Inc.
The baseless affirmations targeting Brigitte Macron began around March 2021 and were recovered by Owens in March 2024, while working for the Daily Wire, a conservative media co-founded by Ben Shapiro, according to the trial. She was dismissed from the point of sale later this month.
After his dismissal, Owens launched his podcast, entitled “Candace”, in June 2024 and continued to push the allegations concerning Brigitte Macron.
The macrons sent their first request for retraction to Owens in December 2024, after which she published the Podcast series in several parts which said that the couple raised “false and defamatory allegations” about Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron. The third and final of the request for a retraction was sent earlier this month.
The macrons allege in their trial that Owens published the defamatory statements knowing that they were false and said that it had acted with a reckless contempt for the truth. The standard in defamation proceedings brought by public figures is real maliciousness, which requires that a claimant alleging a defamation to show that the defendant knew that the declaration was false or acted with reckless contempt for his falsehood to prevail.
The French president and first lady said Owens had a financial motivation to continue to push the claims concerning Brigitte Macron, because her podcast series was monetized and used to solicit contributions, promote subscriptions and raise her brand.
Tom Clare, who represents macrons, said that Owens conducting is a “clear defamation case”.