And Candace Owens is their queen. This is an unbelievable claim from a person who has been spiraling into lunacy for a long time.
In March, conservative commentator Candace Owens revived an absurd conspiracy theory with a YouTube video titled “Is France’s First Lady a Man?” according to the complaint.
Promoted widely on X, Owens said the conspiracy theory was, “likely the biggest scandal in political history.”
Wait, wait. I’m not giving her wacky claim an ounce of credibility — I’ll trust what Brigitte Macron and her husband say over a pronouncement from a notorious Internet wackaloon — but even if it were true, so what. There’s nothing criminal, scandalous, or illegal about a trans woman in politics. It is scandalous that Candace Owens is fine with making random accusations.
Since then, Owens has produced numerous videos about Brigitte Macron for her nearly 4.5 million YouTube subscribers, including a multi-part series called “Becoming Brigitte.”
The lawsuit further claims she has also sold merchandise promoting the claim.
She’s pumping out multiple videos on this topic? That’s a “you” problem, Candace, you’re obsessed.
The Macrons have already provided lots of evidence that Brigitte is a woman. Shouldn’t the fact that she gave birth to three children be enough to satisfy even the wackiest transvestigator? Time for a legal solution.
The Macrons are seeking punitive damages against Owens and her business entities for 22 counts of defamation, false light, and defamation by implication, the statement said.
Clare declined to say the amount of money the Macrons would seek but warned that if Owens continues to double-down on the claim, “it’ll be a substantial award.”
I hope this bankrupts Candace.
Conservtives are nuts.
It would be interesting to hear Owens’ husband, George Farmer, take on all this. He’s worth an estimated $200 million. Hopefully, the Macron’s will make a huge dent in that.
“4.5 million YouTube subscribers”
Sad.
YouTube is a co-conspirator.
“Conservatives are nuts.”
I sometimes think the whole friggin’ world is nuts. As the Mother of Heathens says, “I was worried that I’m crazy, so I asked myself. And we said we’re OK.”
I thought “so what” at first. Then I think I realised what Owens is trying to do. She and her fellow extremists desperately need a single case of a transgender adult involved with a child. Unable to find one, they decided they had to instead claim that a cisgender teacher known to have been involved with a pupil was really transgender. Brigitte Macron conveniently taught Emmanuel Macron a long time ago, which gives them a chance to invent stories (it’s still ridiculous, thanks to her children from her first marriage, but some MAGAs are stupid enough to fall for it).
If I had the talent, I’d create a webcomic called Transvestigator about an anthropomorphic transgender alligator private eye just to take the word away from the transphobes. Alas, I’m not that creative.
“She’s pumping out multiple videos on this topic? That’s a “you” problem”
No, that’s a youtube problem. That’s gaming the algorithm for money. A legitimate vlogger making legitimate posts about interesting topics is NEVER going to make as much money as a conspiracy vlogger that pounds out repeats of the same topic every single day while pushing headlines that make it sound like there’s some big new revelation that you MUST WATCH NOW (and they do).
The economic model of vlogging on youtube is gamed for the liars.
Because those of us with ethics would never do what they do to get eyeballs.
“she’s a trans woman” “that’s defamation”
Both sides making me feel respected as a trans woman
Conservatives made the same claim about Michelle Obama despite her two biological children.
@8– The defamatory part is not calling her trans (well, it is to GOPers), it’s saying she’s a liar and part of a global conspiracy and making her a specific target for RWNJ stochastic terrorists.
There is as far as conservatives are concerned. You know how they feel about Sarah McBride.
It’s all aimed at creating an equivalent to the blood libel. Trans people are predatory toward men, by tricking them into bed; predatory toward women, by invading their spaces and tricking them into bed; and predatory toward children, by molesting and grooming them and encouraging self-harm, which of course includes providing any support for or education about alternative orientations and identities. And because we’re also magically good at passing when we want to be, we could be masquerading as any number of apparently cis folks, even those who’ve been famous since childhood and have biological children. We could be anywhere, seizing the reins of power! Be afraid.
With demagogues like Owens dragging the Overton window toward this paranoid fantasy, lots of Americans can congratulate themselves for being sensible moderates who merely think transgender people might be a monstrous fifth column gnawing at the roots of society. They’re just, y’know, keeping an open mind.
Bit of a disconnect, here.
Properly put, one set sees ‘a trans woman in politics’ (both of the above are in that set) and the other sees ‘a man pretending to be a woman in politics’.
There’s the nub.
No, John, that’s not what they see us as.
These people might call us the M-slur; but deep down, that is not what they believe about us, at all. They admire and respect men. They regard trans women like me as less than human. Why else would they do things like calling for violent men to protect non-trans women, or pretending to be men in order to sell more books?
bluerizlagirl, I sure hear you.
So I’m amplifying your perspective.
(You have more skin in that game(
No. 13, what they see you as is a mentally ill human. To them, someone with male anatomy who identifies as a woman is like someone who identifies as Napolean: Self delusional. You shouldn’t go to jail for it, but nobody else is required to indulge your mental illness.
I think there’s a far stronger mental illness argument for someone who thinks Adam and Eve were actual historical figures and Noah’s ark was an actual historical event, but that’s just me.
@15– No, that is far too generous. They see trans people as contagiously subhuman. The psychiatric delusion story is a cover. They don’t throw the hateful rhetoric, impose degrading tests of identity, sack from the military, or block access to health care when it comes to mental health conditions.
chrislawson, No. 16, oh but they do. I’m married to a paranoid schizophrenic who, on his meds, is the kindest, sweetest, best husband anyone could wish for. He’s also been the victim of hateful rhetoric, couldn’t serve in the military, and is worried that under Trump access to health care is going to be severely curtailed. No identity tests so far, though there are people who think mental illness is a hoax; I’ve encountered them.
In the public mind there is this disconnect in which, on the one hand, everyone understands that having a mental illness is not someone’s “fault”; there is no moral culpability in having a mental illness. On the other hand, there is still significant revulsion toward the mentally ill in enough quarters to make those who suffer from it feel like pariahs at times.
And, while not trans, I would imagine there’s some overlap between his experience and the trans experience, in terms of how people are treated.
Maybe you all should stop trying to imagine our experience and tell us what you think, and actually listen to us?
@bluerizlagirl #13,
Personally, I don’t think that’s the case. They admire and respect masculinity–hegemonic masculinity, anyway–but there are vast demographics of men that they see as failing to live up to that standard. They don’t admire queer men, or undocumented men, or men of the wrong race, or progressive men, or homeless men, or submissive men, or men who admit to mental health disorders for that matter.
And because they believe that men are inherently more powerful and competent than women, transphobes see “failed men” as especially dangerous creatures. Which is why they tend to express more fear of trans women, and more patronizing contempt of trans men. They call for violent men to protect cis women from trans women because they believe that good men should protect women from bad men through violence. And meanwhile, they encourage those same violent men to assault trans men and teach them to be “proper” women again.
I don’t disagree that they see us as less than human, but I also don’t think they have a very inclusive concept of “human” in the first place. To varying degrees, everyone outside their ingroup is less-than.
I also hope Candace can be bankrupted, even though I’m not sure that achieves anything. I saw a clip of Alex Jones in a studio, in front of an Infowars background, holding forth on the Epstein files just a few weeks ago.