Far-right influencer Candace Owens has gone down a rabbit gap so deep that you simply almost count on her to pop up in Australia. Actually, it’s so deep that reportedly even President Donald Trump informed her to again off.
For years now, Owens has been consumed by a singular fixation: to influence the world that Brigitte Macron, the spouse of French President Emmanuel Macron, is secretly a person.
“After looking into this, I would stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man,” Owens posted on X in March 2024. “I do not intend to let up on this story and I am calling on other journalists to look into this explosive story and report accordingly.”
Think about considering that is related to something in any respect, a lot much less an “explosive” matter.
The conspiracy’s origins lie in fringe on-line areas which have for years claimed, with out proof, that Brigitte Macron was born male beneath the identify Jean-Michel Trogneux, a reputation that belongs to her brother. Owens eagerly amplified the deceive her almost 7 million followers on X and over 4.5 million followers on YouTube, the place she produced a sequence of movies collectively titled “Becoming Brigitte.” The French first household has repeatedly sought to have the fabric eliminated, however Owens ignored them.
French President Emmanuel Macron and spouse Brigitte arrive at 10 Downing Avenue in London on July 9.
Having had sufficient, the Macrons sued Owens for defamation in a Delaware court docket on July 23.
“Owens has dissected their appearance, their marriage, their friends, their family, and their personal history—twisting it all into a grotesque narrative designed to inflame and degrade,” the lawsuit claims. “The result is relentless bullying on a worldwide scale. Every time the Macrons leave their home, they do so knowing that countless people have heard, and many believe, these vile fabrications. It is invasive, dehumanizing, and deeply unjust.”
If Owens had any substance to her claims, this may be her second to shine. Fact is a protection in a defamation case, and the invention course of would give her the possibility to dig up the proof she’d must show her level. However that may require a real pursuit of fact, one thing Owens—and the remainder of her conservative colleagues—have little curiosity in.
As an alternative, including to the episode’s general bizarreness, she’s appealed to Trump to bail her out, and his silence is driving her completely mad.
You’ve a literal European chief that’s mainly saying “eff you” to the American Structure, proper? Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte are saying, “You know what, we don’t like that podcaster in America, and we are gonna launch a lawsuit that’s never been launched before, an unprecedented lawsuit, to impoverish her for speaking.” And each [Vice President] JD Vance and Trump haven’t issued a press release.
Actually, the place are the journalists even asking them to make a press release, okay? A state chief—a state chief is talking about your constituent and launching a lawsuit and saying they’re gonna impoverish them for executing a First Modification proper. The place are you? If you’re Trump, the very first thing it is best to have completed, should you purport to care about America and our Structure … you’ll come out and you’ll say, “I don’t even know whether I believe that she’s a man or a woman. It doesn’t matter”—proper?
After which there’s Brendan Carr, Trump’s head of the Federal Communication Fee. Carr is maybe the largest opponent of the First Modification to serve in a presidential administration because the Richard Nixon period. That is the man who seemingly threatened CBS into cancelling Stephen Colbert’s present, boasting, “The American people simply do not trust the mainstream media, and for broadcasters—again, different than cable, different than podcasts—for broadcasters, they have a federal license, and they are obligated to operate in the public interest. And to the extent that we’re starting to see some changes, I think that’s a good thing.”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr testifies throughout a Home listening to in 2019.
Carr has lengthy championed utilizing federal licensing as a political weapon towards media retailers he and his allies dislike—a direct assault on press freedom. In his fingers, “public interest” turns into regardless of the social gathering in energy says it’s, turning broadcast licenses into loyalty checks and chilling dissent. It’s the identical form of authorities overreach conservatives as soon as railed towards once they thought the Equity Doctrine focused them—however that they’ve now reimagined as a one-sided cudgel for their very own profit.
Second of all, the Structure doesn’t defend defamatory speech. As a public determine, Brigitte Macron does face a better bar to win her case—as a public determine, she’ll want to point out precise malice, or a “reckless disregard” for the reality—however that doesn’t protect Owens from the lawsuit itself. And it’s a strong wager the Macrons can clear that bar, given Owens’ personal reckless disregard for the reality.
Lastly, why would Owens suppose Trump or Vance would experience to her rescue? The 2 don’t care about anybody however themselves, and she or he’s introduced this solely on herself. She even admitted on her podcast that Trump instantly informed her to again off, saying, “I looked at her real close in the Eiffel Tower, and it looked like a woman to me.” Based on Owens, the president of the USA informed her she was stuffed with it—which the Macron attorneys will completely love—and she or he ignored him whereas begging for his assist.
What does she count on, Trump to declare struggle on France on her behalf?
Even British right-wing commentator Piers Morgan wouldn’t again her up.
“You’ve been duped,” he informed her on his present. “Worse, you gotta know it’s not true, but you’ve ridden the wave of conspiracy theory about it because it’s been so lucrative.”
Owens went in search of a struggle, and now she’s shocked to seek out herself on the battlefield alone.
