Brigitte Macron faces backlash for using slur against feminist protesters

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Brigitte Macron faces backlash for using slur against feminist protesters

2025-12-09 21:31 Last Updated At：21:40

PARIS (AP) — Brigitte Macron was facing criticism on Tuesday after video emerged of her using a slur to denounce feminist protesters.

The scene filmed Sunday showed France’s first lady in discussion backstage at the Folies Bergère theatre in Paris with Ary Abittan, a French actor and humorist previously accused of rape, before a performance he was about to give. The previous night, feminist campaigners had disrupted his show with shouts of “Abittan, rapist!"

Before Sunday's performance, Brigitte Macron asked him how he was feeling. When he said he was feeling scared, she made a derogatory and sexist reference to the women, adding: “We’ll toss them out.”

Her office said in a statement that she'd been trying to calm 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 just 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.”

The feminist campaign group “Nous Toutes” (“All of Us”) said its activists disrupted Abittan’s show to protest what it described as “the culture of impunity” around sexual violence in France.

Magistrates terminated the investigation of the 2021 rape allegation against Abittan for lack of evidence in 2024, a decision then confirmed on appeal in January this year, according to French media.

In a statement on Instagram, Nous Toutes said: “We denounce venues that roll out a red carpet for men accused of rape, normalizing sexist and sexual violence. It is a public insult to the victims. Victims, we believe you. Rapists, we do not forgive you!”

Opponents of President Emmanuel Macron on the left-wing of French politics criticized his wife's use of a sexist slur and some said she should apologize.

The critics included former French President François Hollande. Speaking to broadcaster RTL, Hollande said: “There's a problem of vulgarity."

But on the French far-right, National Rally lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy said Brigitte Macron's comments were delivered in private and “stolen."

“If each of us were filmed backstage saying things with friends, I think there would be plenty to comment on," he told broadcaster BFMTV. “All of this is very hypocritical."

Zelenskyy reaffirms his refusal to cede land to Russia as he rallies European support

ROME (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reaffirmed his strong refusal to cede any territory, resisting U.S. pressure for painful concessions to Russia as he moved ahead Tuesday to rally more European support for his country.

“Undoubtedly, Russia insists for us to give up territories. We, clearly, don’t want to give up anything. That’s what we are fighting for," Zelenskyy told reporters in a WhatsApp chat late Monday.

“Do we consider ceding any territories? According to the law we don’t have such right," he said. "According to Ukraine’s law, our constitution, international law, and to be frank, we don’t have a moral right either."

In an interview with Politico released Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump again pressed Zelenskyy to accept the U.S. proposal that Ukraine cede territory to Russia, arguing that Moscow retains the “upper hand” in its nearly 4-year-old invasion, and that Zelenskyy’s government must “play ball.”

Zelenskyy met with Pope Leo XIV at Castel Gandolfo, a papal residence outside Rome, and is to have talks with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni later in the day. The Vatican said the pope “reiterated the need for the continuation of dialogue and expressed his urgent desire that the current diplomatic initiatives bring about a just and lasting peace.”

The Holy See has tried to stay neutral in the war while offering solidarity and assistance to what it calls the “martyred” people of Ukraine. Leo, who has met three times with Zelenskyy and has spoken by telephone at least once with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has called for a ceasefire and urged Moscow in particular to make gestures to promote peace.

On Monday, Zelenskyy held talks in London with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to strengthen Ukraine’s hand amid mounting impatience from Trump.

U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks on Saturday aimed at trying to narrow differences on the Trump administration’s peace proposal.

A major sticking point in the plan is the suggestion that Kyiv must give up control of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to Russia, which illegally occupies most but not all of the territory. Ukraine and its European allies have firmly resisted the idea of handing over land.

“You know, a lot of people are dying,” Trump told Politico on Monday, claiming that other Ukrainian officials that he identified only as Zelenskyy's “lieutenants, his top people” agree with the U.S. administration.

Other than Zelenskyy’s comments Monday, Ukrainian negotiators have said very little in public about the content of the U.S. proposal or their attitude toward it.

Russia, Trump reasoned, remains too powerful for Ukraine to continue fighting.

“I give the people of Ukraine and the military of Ukraine tremendous credit for the, you know, bravery and for the fighting and all of that,” he said. “But you know, at some point, size will win, generally.”

Trump also repeated his call for Ukraine to hold a presidential election even though martial law doesn't allow it and Zelenskyy, elected in 2019, had his five-year term extended because of the war. Trump's position on Ukraine's failure to hold an election mirrors frequent statements on the subject by Putin.

Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Zelenskyy since winning a second term, insisting U.S. support for Ukraine was a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Zelenskyy said Monday that Trump “certainly wants to end the war. ... Surely, he has his own vision. We live here, from within we see details and nuances, we perceive everything much deeper, because this is our motherland.”

He said the current U.S. peace plan differs from earlier versions in that it now has 20 points, down from 28, after he said some “obvious anti-Ukrainian points were removed.”

Starmer, Macron and Merz strongly backed Kyiv, with the U.K. leader saying Monday that the push for peace was at a “critical stage,” and stressed the need for “a just and lasting ceasefire.”

Merz, meanwhile, said he was “skeptical” about some details in documents released by the U.S. “We have to talk about it. That’s why we are here,” he said. “The coming days … could be a decisive time for all of us.”

European leaders are working to ensure that any ceasefire is backed by solid security guarantees both from Europe and the U.S. to deter Russia from attacking again. Trump has not given explicit guarantees in public.

Zelenskyy and his European allies have repeatedly accused Putin of slow-walking the talks to press ahead with the invasion as his forces are make steady gains while waves of missiles and drones pummel Ukrainian infrastructure.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 110 drones across the country overnight. While air defenses neutralized 84 drones, 24 more have struck their targets.

Several regions of Ukraine faced emergency blackouts Tuesday due to Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, according to Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo.

Ukraine, in turn, continued its drone attacks on Russia.

Russia said its air defenses destroyed 121 drones in various regions and in the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. In Chuvashia, a region about 900 kilometers (about 560 miles) northeast of the border with Ukraine, the attack damaged residential buildings and injured nine people, Gov. Oleg Nikolayev said.

Ukraine’s Security Service carried out a drone attack on a liquefied gas terminal at the port of Temryuk in Russia’s Krasnodar region on Dec. 5, according to an official with knowledge of the operation who spoke to The Associated Press.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said the strike sparked a fire at the facility. More than 20 storage tanks were set ablaze and burned for more than three days, he said. The attack also damaged railway tank cars and other sites at the plant.

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed.