Macron Wedding Drama: Hostility & Cyber Harassment 💔😠

Europe

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False Accusations Lead to Court Convictions
The Paris court has convicted ten individuals of online harassment targeting French First Lady Brigitte Macron, finding them guilty of posting and sharing malicious comments alleging she was a man. The court handed down sentences ranging from a compulsory course on understanding online harassment to an eight-month suspended prison sentence for eight men and two women, aged 41 to 60, including a school sports teacher, an art gallery owner, and a publicist. One absent defendant, a property developer, received a six-month prison sentence. In addition to their sentences, several individuals were suspended from the social media platforms where the harassing comments were made or shared.

A Campaign of Misinformation
The convictions stem from the defendants’ repeated claims that Brigitte Macron was born male and that her age difference was linked to her husband, President Emmanuel Macron, with some alleging paedophilia. The Paris trial represents the latest stage in a legal battle waged by the Macrons on both sides of the Atlantic to combat the persistent false claim that Brigitte Macron is, in fact, Jean-Michel Trogneux.

Mirroring Legal Battles Across the Atlantic
This legal challenge mirrors a defamation lawsuit filed by the Macrons in the United States against conservative podcaster Candace Owens, which alleges that Owens has repeatedly amplified and perpetuated the false claim. The US lawsuit asserts that the assertion that Brigitte Macron is Jean-Michel Trogneux is entirely untrue; instead, Trogneux, 80, resides in northern France and is, in reality, Brigitte Macron’s older brother.

Rooted in a Family History and Personal Connection
The false theory regarding Brigitte Macron’s gender origins in part due to the long-standing public interest in the Macron family’s prominent chocolate business and their relationship. Emmanuel Macron, who grew up in the town of Amiens with his sister Brigitte and their siblings, was a student at his Jesuit secondary school there, where Brigitte directed him in a school play. As detailed in the Macrons’ lawsuit against Owens, this experience fostered a “deeper intellectual connection” between the couple.

Personal Toll of the Harassment
Tiphaine Auzière, 41, a lawyer and one of Brigitte Macron’s three children from her first marriage, testified that the unfounded claims about her mother’s gender had negatively impacted her quality of life, causing her daily anxiety about her appearance and impacting her family. Auzière explained that “Not a day or week goes by when someone does not talk about this to her,” and that the repercussions of the social media narratives had caused a “deterioration of her health” and a “deterioration of her quality of life.”

A Daughter’s Plea for Protection
“She is your grandfather,” Brigitte Macron stated to TF1 the night before the verdict, explaining the significant impact these attacks have on her. Unelected and without actively seeking any position, she remains perpetually subjected to these personal attacks. “I, as a daughter, a woman, and a mother, would not wish this life on anyone,” she emphasized.

Setting an Example Against Bullying
Macron further detailed how her online abusers consistently disregard irrefutable proof of her gender, dismissing comments such as, “A birth certificate is not nothing. It is a father or a mother who goes to declare their child, who says who he is or who she is.” She expressed a desire to serve as a role model for young people combating bullying, adding, “I want to help teenagers fight against bullying, and if I do not set an example, it will be difficult.”

This article is AI-synthesized from public sources and may not reflect original reporting.