Emmanuel Macron‘s press team have come under fire for their ‘catastrophic’ handling of a viral video clip that showed the First Lady appearing to slap the president after they touched down in Vietnam for a state visit.
Shocking footage taken on Sunday evening, shows the French President’s plane door opening to reveal him before his wife Brigitte places both hands on her husband’s face and gives it a shove.
Macron’s communications team were overwhelmed by the furore triggered by the video and tried to claim it was an AI-generated fake before admitting it was genuine just hours later.
However Elysee officials still denied the couple were having a spat and instead said they were simply ‘having a laugh’ in a ‘moment of closeness’.
Their knee-jerk reaction sent the rumour mill into overdrive, with state radio channel France Info claiming it reflected ‘simmering tensions within the Elysee’s communications unit’.
Now questions are being raised over why Brigitte hasn’t waded in to calm the waters and offer a simple explanation for what really happened.
French journalist Jean-Claude Dassier bemoaned a ‘catastrophic’ response from Macron’s PR team over what was ‘clearly a row’ but not an affair of state.
Emmanuel Macron’s press team have come under fire for their ‘catastrophic’ handling of a viral video clip that showed the First Lady appearing to slap the president after they touched down in Vietnam for a state visit. Pictured: The couple arriving in Indonesia yesterday
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron disembarks from the plane upon their arrival at military airbase Halim Perdanakusuma in Jakarta, Indonesia
Shocking footage taken on Sunday evening, shows the French President’s plane door opening to reveal him before his wife Brigitte places both hands on her husband’s face and gives it a shove
Macron’s communications team were overwhelmed by the furore triggered by the video and tried to claim it was an AI-generated fake before admitting it was genuine just hours later
Their knee-jerk reaction sent the rumour mill into overdrive, with state radio channel France Info claiming it reflected ‘simmering tensions within the Elysee’s communications unit’ Pictured: Brigitte Macron kisses her husband’s face as they received by Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto at Merdeka Palace today
Pictured: Macron arriving in Jakarta, Indonesia yesterday as he continues his South East Asian tour
France’s President Emmanuel Macron (L) and Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto shake hands during a press briefing at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on May 28
He also added: ‘Why haven’t we heard from Brigitte? For once it would have been useful to have her plain and simple explanation’.
It comes after the couple put on a brave face and beamed at the camera as they arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia to start a tour of Southeast Asia today.
Yesterday the pair were seen arm in arm as the president arrived at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, in Vietnam, to deliver a speech.
The visit came hours after Mr Macron said ‘crackpot’ conspiracy theorists were working to intensify speculation around the state of his marriage.
They were later clasping one another’s hands as they boarded their plane to depart Vietnam for Indonesia and continue their South East Asian tour.
In comments to reporters, Macron pointed out that he had recently been falsely accused of doing cocaine with fellow European leaders Sir Keir Starmer and Germany’s Friedrich Merz, and of having a physical altercation with Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
‘My wife and I were squabbling, we were rather joking, and I was taken by surprise,’ Mr Macron told reporters in Vietnam on Monday evening.
Now it has ‘become a kind of planetary catastrophe, and some are even coming up with theories.
‘For three weeks, there have been people who have watched videos and who think that I shared a bag of cocaine, that I had a mano-a-mano with a Turkish president and now that I am having a domestic dispute with my wife.
Elysee officials denied the couple were having a spat and instead said they were simply ‘having a laugh’ in a ‘moment of closeness’
Pictured: French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte arrive at Hanoi University of Science and Technology
France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron wave as they board their plane for departure following their visit to Vietnam
‘In these three videos, I took a tissue, shook someone’s hand and just joked with my wife, as we do quite often. Nothing more.
‘None of this is true… so everyone needs to calm down.’
But some Parisians appear to disagree, and are struggling to see the humour in the interaction.
Speaking to MailOnline, Paris resident Julie Galbardini said: ‘I’m very shocked about it because he represents France. I don’t understand what happened.
‘I don’t think it was a joke because I [saw] the reaction of the president, and I don’t think it’s a joke.
‘French women don’t do that on camera.’
Another Parisian, Victoria Nakache said that the interaction between President Macron and his wife ‘completely shocked’ her.
The latest object of speculation was generated by the French First Lady on Sunday, moments after the French presidential jet touched down in Vietnam.
Shocking video of the incident shot by the Associated Press news agency in Hanoi showed the French President standing on his plane in an open doorway before making his way down the stairs.
French President Emmanuel Macron (C) and his wife Brigitte Macron (2-R) and Vietnamese Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan (2-L) pose for a photo as they visit the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi
Macron cautioned that this was not the first time in recent weeks that the content of videos of him had been twisted by people
He appeared to be in conversation with someone in the cabin who was obscured from view. That person was quickly revealed to be Brigitte Macron, who planted her hands on her husband’s face and shoved him.
The president was startled but quickly realised he was in full view of TV cameras and turned to wave through the open plane door.
The couple then proceeded down the staircase for the official welcome by Vietnamese officials, though Mrs Macron did not take her husband’s offered arm.
Macron’s office initially denied the authenticity of the images, suggesting they had been AI-generated – but later pulled a U-turn and admitted they were genuine.
A close associate of the president later described the incident as a couple’s harmless ‘squabble’.
