Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in Delaware Superior Court, targeting statements by social media influencer Candace Owens.
The Macrons said they filed the 218-page complaint after Owens repeatedly ignored requests to retract false and defamatory statements.
In an eight-part YouTube and podcast series called "Becoming Brigitte," Owens alleged that Brigitte Macron was born male and that the Macrons are blood relatives.
It also claims that Macron was selected to be France's president as part of a CIA-operated mind control program.
The complaint against Owens, who has millions of followers on X and YouTube, seeks a jury trial and unspecified punitive damages. In a joint statement through their attorney, the Macrons said Owens used the popularity of her podcast to spread "verifiably false and devastating lies."
"If ever there were a clear-cut case of defamation, this is it."
"Owens's defamation campaign was clearly designed to harass us, cause pain to our family, and generate attention and notoriety for herself," they wrote.
The complaint says that baseless speculation about Brigitte Macron's gender began surfacing in 2021, with the topic being discussed on popular conservative podcasts hosted by Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan.
"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...
Utah anesthesiologists facing a False Claims Act suit are moving to bar the testimony of a medical billing expert they say used artificial intelligence to draft a report riddled with errors... Want...