Emmanuel Macron, the French President, and First Lady Brigitte Macron have sued Candace Owens for defamation.
The case has been filed against Owens on accusations of spreading false claims about the gender of Brigitte Macron.
Candace Owens is a US-based far-right author who had claimed that Brigitte Macron was a man at the time of birth.
The lawsuit contains 218 pages and is filed in Delaware. It says that Owens initiated a misinformation campaign in ‘Becoming Brigitte,’ her podcast series.
Both Macron And His Wife Have Filed The Case
Owens reportedly said that Macron was born as a male and named Jean-Michel Trogneux.
The Macron couple stated that Owens tried to boost the views of her podcast by damaging the reputation of Brigitte Macron.
The suit includes 22 legal counts, including defamation, false light, and invasion of privacy.
It also accuses Owens of intentionally profiting from the viral spread of falsehoods by posting monetized videos and selling merchandise featuring Brigitte Macron’s image and the phrase “Hombre del Año” (Man of the Year).
In response, Owens said that what she told was correct and the legal case is an attack on her freedom of speech.
Owens Called The Case An Assault On Freedom of Speech
Also, her legal team stated that the case is politically motivated and full of “inaccuracies”.”
Under U.S. law, the Macrons must prove that Owens acted with “actual malice”—meaning she either knew the information was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
The court documents claim that Owens did not rectify of retract her statements despite being given proofs that debunked her claims.
Theories about the gender of Brigitte Macron have circulated online since 2021, especially among conspiracy theorists.
Earlier, the First Lady of France had won a defamation case in France related to similar claims.
However, the decision was later overturned and then the First Lady appealed to the top most court of the country.
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