French President Emmanuel Macron rigidly rejected rumours about domestic disputes with his wife, Brigitte Macron, following a viral video revealing her shoving his face aside as the couple reached Vietnam.
The video clip caused a storm on social media on Monday. It was captured just seconds after the French president landed in Hanoi, Vietnam, with his wife. After the plane opened its doors, Brigitte Macron smacked the president in the face. However, the French President’s wife (72) was mostly out of the frame, and only her hands are visible in the clip.
Emmanuel Macron (47) seems to be momentarily startled before regaining composure and waving to the cameras. Emmanuel Macron, speaking to the reporters following the incident, explained that the moment was wrongly understood.
Macron said that he and his wife were joking, and he was taken by surprise.
The French President had been married to his wife since 2007. He met her wife, Brigitte Macron, at his high school where she taught. Macron downplayed the video clip and criticised the overreaction.
Macron said that nowadays, it has become a kind of planetary catastrophe, and some are coming up with theories. Macron attributed the brouhaha over the video clip to false and misleading claims aiming to distort a light-hearted moment.
The French President cautioned that this was not the first time that such video content of him had been twisted by people in the recent week. He described this incident as “crackpots”.
He added that in those three video clips, he took a tissue, shook someone’s hand, and just joked with his wife, Brigitte Macron. He also said that the incident is quite normal as they do it very often, and there is nothing to be criticised.
He blamed manipulations on various social media networks, and he especially pointed his finger at the Russians and the Extremists in France.
Officials from the Élysée Palace resonated with his remarks, telling the French media that the video was simply of a moment in which the French President and his wife were loosened up by goofing about one last time before the trip to commence.
Vietnam is the first destination of Macron’s trip to Southeast Asia, where he will promote his country as the top alternative to the United States and China. It’s the first initiative taken by a French President in almost a decade as he aims to boost his country’s influence in its former colony.