‘Leave Brigitte Macron alone after anti-feminist comment’: Government official

Brigitte Macron deserves to be left alone despite the controversy that has emerged after she called feminist activists ‘dirty b*tches’, the government spokeswoman has said.

Maud Bregeon called for calm, and defended Mrs Macron, saying that she had spoken “spontaneously” and in a “private setting”.

Mrs Macron made the comment when speaking about a group of feminist activists who had interrupted a show by comedian Ary Abittan, as reported in a video on the magazine website Public.

Mr Abittan was accused of rape at the end of 2021, by a woman he had been dating for three weeks. This led to a three-year investigation, after which the case was dismissed, and an appeal was thrown out in January this year.

Yet, Mr Abittan’s shows are regularly picketed by activists. On Saturday, December 6, four women from the feminist group #NousToutes interrupted Mr Abittan’s show at the Folies Bergère theatre in Paris They wore masks with Mr Abittan’s face and name, and the word ‘rapist (Abittan violeur)’ written on them.

The day after (Sunday, December 7), Mrs Macron went to see Mr Abittan’s show, where she was covertly filmed as she visited him backstage.

In the video, Mr Abittan told Mrs Macron: "I'm scared [of the activists]." She responds: "If there are any dirty b*tches (sales c*nnes), we'll kick them out. Especially masked thugs."

Political response

The video has been widely shared, and provoked condemnation from some political opponents.

Marine Tondelier, national secretary of the Ecologist party, told BMFTV: “[These are] extremely serious remarks” and “a first lady should not say such things”.

Socialist MP Ayda Hadizadeh said the remarks were “deplorable”, while Aurélie Trouvé, MP for Seine-Saint-Denis in La France Insoumise, called the comments “crude” and said that Mrs Macron should “at least apologise”.

Républicain spokesperson Agnès Evren said the comments were “very sexist” and that she was “quite surprised” to hear such language from Mrs Macron.

Jean-René Cazeneuve, Gers MP, said that he “wanted to put [the comments] in context”. He said: “I do not want to excuse her…[but] has Brigitte Macron been committed to feminists her whole life? The answer is yes.”

And Julien Odoul, MP for the Rassemblement National, said he was “shocked first and foremost…by the treatment inflicted on Ary Abittan over many months”, and said the comedian was “a great artist who has been found not guilty”.

‘Private setting’

Ms Bregeon has emphasised that Mrs Macron was speaking privately.

Speaking on France 2 today, she said: “People need to leave Brigitte Macron alone. The serious problem here is that [activists] can interrupt a show of someone whose case was dismissed,” arguing that the court’s decision on the case should be respected.

“Brigitte Macron spoke spontaneously. It was in a private setting, and on a subject about which, once again, she cannot be blamed.

Mr Abittan’s lawyer also reiterated yesterday that his client was innocent in the eyes of the law.

Sources close to Mrs Macron said that she was not ‘anti-feminist’, but had simply “not approved of this radical method” of showing opposition.

‘Private’ or error?

The story that the video was “private” has been refuted by journalist David Perrotin, however, who wrote on his X (Twitter) account that Mrs Macron “knew she was being filmed”. 

The video was taken by the paparazzi agency Bestimage, which is run by a friend of Mrs Macron, Mimi Marchand.

However, the video was not intended to be shared with sound attached, Bestimage has since told AFP. The images and videos from backstage were checked and verified, and sold to Paris Match, Closer, and Public, but the “sound was not checked”, the agency said.

This “was an error”, it said, adding that the photographer had offered their resignation after the video emerged, but this had not been accepted by the agency. “They are an excellent professional, who is responsible [for this] but not guilty,” it said.

In a statement, the editor of Public appeared to confirm the story. 

She said: “The source who provided us with this video did not specifically alert us to its content or what was said in it. 

“It was only when we watched it that we discovered Brigitte Macron's comments. We decided to broadcast it because we felt it was a matter of general interest that went beyond the world of celebrities,” she said, explaining why the magazine had shared the video more widely.