Emmanuel Macron is trying to save face after an international incident on Sunday, shortly before the French president and his elderly wife, Brigitte, de-boarded the presidential plane in Vietnam.
Caught on video that has since gone viral, President Macron is seen receiving a two-handed shove to the face from the first lady. The couple had just arrived in Hanoi for a state visit.
The video revealed the door to the plane open, with the 47-year-old president partially visible standing nearby. He appeared to be talking to someone out of view. Then, out of nowhere, the hands of his 72-year-old wife connected with her husband's mouth and shoved his face.
SIGN UP for The Daily OutKick. New Look, Same Attitude.
Facing an open door, Macron realized that his wife's slap was almost certainly caught on camera. He gave a little wave before stepping out of view of the open doorway.
When they emerged, his former high school teacher turned wife added insult to injury. She ignored the French president as he extended his arm to help escort her down the stairs to be welcomed by Vietnamese officials.
It's a wonder the officials were still standing there by the time the Macrons reached the bottom of the stairs after what they had just witnessed.
How can they take the French president seriously after witnessing the two-handed face shove followed by Brigitte's cold shoulder? Add that to his tightly crossed legs, and I don’t know if much is going to get accomplished on his week-long tour of Southeast Asia.
Macron is reportedly trying to sell France as a reliable alternative to the United States and China for the region. Not to worry, Macron and company have it under control.
If you thought you witnessed some possible domestic abuse as it unfolded on camera, you're mistaken. You might need to take a look in the mirror after suggesting such nonsense.
Macron's office, reports the New York Post, initially denied the authenticity of the video. They shifted gears to admitting that the footage was real, but it's not what you think. "Everyone needs to calm down," Macron said.
The French president also told reporters, "There’s a video showing me joking and teasing my wife and somehow that becomes a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe, with people even coming up with theories to explain it. We are horsing around and, really, joking with my wife."
That explains it. They were just joking around is all. You know the kind of joking around where your elderly wife shoves your face with two hands. Nothing to see here.
If you're still not sold, an insider from Macron's team offered up some more insight into what the video actually shows. Remember shoving your spouse's face with two hands is completely normal.
"It was a moment when the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by joking around," a source close to the president said.
"It’s a moment of togetherness. No more was needed to feed the mills of the conspiracy theorists," the source added before accusing pro-Russian disinformation accounts of spinning the clip.
You see. It wasn’t an insanely disrespectful two-handed face shove after all. This was a moment of togetherness for the French president and the first lady.
from The Latest & Most Breaking News With OutKick https://ift.tt/t7xVomI