Far-right influencer Candace Owens has gone down a rabbit hole so deep that you nearly expect her to pop up in Australia. In fact, it’s so deep that reportedly even President Donald Trump told her to back off.
For years now, Owens has been consumed by a singular fixation: to persuade the world that Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, is secretly a man.
“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.”
Imagine thinking this is relevant to anything at all, much less an “explosive” matter.
The conspiracy’s origins lie in fringe online spaces that have for years claimed, without evidence, that Brigitte Macron was born male under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, a name that belongs to her brother. Owens eagerly amplified the lie to her nearly 7 million followers on X and over 4.5 million followers on YouTube, where she produced a series of videos collectively titled “Becoming Brigitte.” The French first family has repeatedly sought to have the material removed, but Owens ignored them.
French President Emmanuel Macron and wife Brigitte arrive at 10 Downing Street in London on July 9.
Having had enough, the Macrons sued Owens for defamation in a Delaware court 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 would be her moment to shine. Truth is a defense in a defamation case, and the discovery process would give her the chance to dig up the evidence she’d need to prove her point. But that would require a genuine pursuit of truth, something Owens—and the rest of her conservative colleagues—have little interest in.
Instead, adding to the episode’s overall bizarreness, she’s appealed to Trump to bail her out, and his silence is driving her absolutely mad.
You have a literal European leader that is basically saying “eff you” to the American Constitution, right? 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 both [Vice President] JD Vance and Trump have not issued a statement.
In fact, where are the journalists even asking them to make a statement, okay? A state leader—a state leader is speaking about your constituent and launching a lawsuit and saying they’re gonna impoverish them for executing a First Amendment right. Where are you? If you are Trump, the first thing you should have done, if you purport to care about America and our Constitution … you would come out and you would say, “I don’t even know whether I believe that she’s a man or a woman. It doesn’t matter”—right?
It’s particularly rich for Owens to expect Trump, of all people, to suddenly care about the First Amendment. He’s been suing news organizations left and right for publishing the truth about him. He added Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to his administration, someone who has actually sued this site to try to strip our community of its First Amendment protections. (We mostly won, though the case is still pending appeal at a New York appellate court.)
And then there’s Brendan Carr, Trump’s head of the Federal Communication Commission. Carr is perhaps the biggest opponent of the First Amendment to serve in a presidential administration since the Richard Nixon era. This is the guy who seemingly threatened CBS into cancelling Stephen Colbert’s show, 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 during a House hearing in 2019.
Carr has long championed using federal licensing as a political weapon against media outlets he and his allies dislike—a direct attack on press freedom. In his hands, “public interest” becomes whatever the party in power says it is, turning broadcast licenses into loyalty tests and chilling dissent. It’s the same kind of government overreach conservatives once railed against when they thought the Fairness Doctrine targeted them—but that they have now reimagined as a one-sided cudgel for their own benefit.
Second of all, the Constitution doesn’t protect defamatory speech. As a public figure, Brigitte Macron does face a higher bar to win her case—as a public figure, she’ll need to show actual malice, or a “reckless disregard” for the truth—but that doesn’t shield Owens from the lawsuit itself. And it’s a solid bet the Macrons can clear that bar, given Owens’ own reckless disregard for the truth.
Finally, why would Owens think Trump or Vance would ride to her rescue? The two don’t care about anyone but themselves, and she’s brought this entirely on herself. She even admitted on her podcast that Trump directly told her to back off, saying, “I looked at her real close in the Eiffel Tower, and it looked like a woman to me.” According to Owens, the president of the United States told her she was full of it—which the Macron lawyers will absolutely love—and she ignored him while begging for his help.
What does she expect, Trump to declare war on France on her behalf?
Even British right-wing commentator Piers Morgan wouldn’t back her up.
“You’ve been duped,” he told her on his show. “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 looking for a war, and now she’s shocked to find herself on the battlefield alone.
