France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron, has stirred uproar among French celebrities and feminists for using sexist and derogatory language to describe demonstrators at a theatre comedy show.
Brigitte Macron on Sunday attended a theatre show by French actor and comedian Ary Abittan at the Folies Bergère theatre in Paris. He was was accused of rape by a former girlfriend in 2021. Following a three-year inquiry, the complaint was dismissed, a decision backed by French courts.
In a backstage discussion with the France’s first lady, before the event, which was captured on camera and briefly uploaded online, the comedian says he is “scared” of protesters who disrupt his shows.
The 72-year-old responds, “If there are any stupid b*tches, we’ll kick them out.” She then laughs and insists that Abittan pledges not to discuss “the problem” that evening, which appears to refer to the activists.
Macron’s office said in a statement that she had been trying to ease his nerves: “As the video shows, Mrs Macron’s only intention was to reassure an artist who, in his dressing room before going on stage, had told her: ‘I’m scared’ because his show had been disrupted the previous evening.
“In no way is she attacking a cause. She does, however, disapprove of the radical methods used to prevent an artist from performing on stage, as was the case on Saturday night.”
Activists from the French feminist collective #NousToutes (All of Us), many wearing masks with resembling the comedian, disrupted his Saturday night show.
French feminists and celebrities quickly adopted the slur on social media, aligning themselves with sexual assault survivors.
French actress and Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard took to Instagram and wrote, “je suis une sale conne” (meaning “I’m a stupid b*tch”). The 50-year-old, who won an Oscar for her role as Edith Piaf in the 2008 film “La Vie en Rose,” captioned the post, “et fière de l’être,” (“and proud of it”).
Maud Bregeon, a French government spokesman, denounced the demonstrators who protested at Abittan’s show during an appearance on French television on Wednesday morning. She said, “That shocks me deeply,” referring to the demonstrators’ acts disregarding a court decision.
When asked if French President Emmanuel Macron‘s wife should apologize for her words, Bregeon promptly replied, “No.”
Other politicians were less enthusiastic. Marine Tondelier, leader of Les Ecologistes, France’s green party, told BFMTV that the first lady’s words were quite serious. “A first lady should not say that. Feminists have the right to give their opinion on this too,” she remarked.
Former French President François Hollande told RTL radio on Tuesday that Brigitte’s statements were poorly chosen. “Even if one can criticise the form, when it comes to women fighting against violence against women, one does not use words in this way,” he said.