The first lady, victim of rumors insinuating that she is a man, has decided to take legal action and find those responsible.
Brigitte Macron has decided not to give respite to the rumors peddlers on her account. On twitter, a transphobic theory according to which Brigitte Macron was born as a man, named Jean-Michel Trogneux – Trogneux being Brigitte Macron’s maiden name – was developed to the point of becoming a top trend last week. The hashtag #JeanMichelTrogneux has been used over 66,000 times on Twitter. Since the start of Emmanuel Macron’s mandate, his wife Brigitte has been regularly targeted and attacked for her physique, her age or her identity.
The infamous rumor touched the first lady who intends to find the initiators of this vast joke, aimed at defaming her as the wife and wife of Emmanuel Macron. She intends to take justice to not only flush out the authors of this theory but also to indicate the defamatory and dangerous nature of this kind of initiative.
The far right behind this bad joke
Going back to the origin of this slanderous hastag, it was found that the first sharing of the #JeanMichelTrogneux tag was done by a far-right journal, titled Facts and Documents.
The magazine in question invokes a long investigation proving the past life of Brigitte Macron, that of Jean-Michel Trogneux, the initial identity of the first lady before her transformation as a woman. This investigation conducted by Natacha Rey on behalf of the far-right review was mainly publicized by the broadcast of a video interview between the latter and a supposed medium. Facts and Documents is a journal accustomed to conspiracy theories.
Women in politics are often the target of unfounded rumors to discredit them. Brigitte Macron is not the only one to have suffered this kind of humiliation. The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, but also Michelle Obama, had suffered the same fate. Rumors about the change of their gender identity had also emerged.
A few months before the presidential election, the newspaper The world is worried in an article published on December 20, to see the arrival of fake news entering the media world and fears a trumpization of political debates.