A video shows French President Macron's face being shoved by his wife as they land in Vietnam
The French presidency found itself in the midst of some social media turbulence after a video showed the President's face being shoved away in an abrupt gesture by his wife as the two of them landed in Vietnam to begin their official visit to Southeast Asia.
The footage showed President Emmanuel Macron standing in the vestibule adjoining the boarding gate, speaking with his wife, Brigitte, who was still inside the cabin as security officials opened the gate. Suddenly her arm emerges from the doorway and shoves his face aside in what appears to be an aggressive gesture. A crew member, who was about to step on to the aircraft sees this and steps back immediately.
President Macron appears startled but quickly recovers from it as he realises that the boarding gate has opened and there is a camera pointed right at him. He smiles and raises his right arm to quickly wave at the camera while his other hand clutches on to a handle beside the gateway.
The video then shows the President and the First Lady disembark the aircraft and step on to the ramp. President Macron, who was a step ahead of his wife, then offers his arm in order for her to hold either his hand or his elbow as the two would descend down to the red carpet on the tarmac. But the visibly-serious First Lady ignores his gesture and climbs down holding the railing on the step ladder instead.
The video, showing the President dressed in a navy-blue suit, white shirt, and black tie; and the First Lady dressed in a black shirt and trouser, and a red formal jacket over it, was shot by a video journalist of the Associated Press.
A DENIAL, THEN AN ATTEMPT TO DOWNPLAY IT
As the clip went viral on social media, the French presidency initially dismissed it and denied the authenticity of the video, but it was soon proven to be genuine.
Several social media accounts, including some media outlets that are habitually hostile to the French President, shared the video, calling it a "slap" or "smack". Though the gesture appears to be aggressive based on President Macron's reaction, it is impossible to see the First Lady's facial expression or body language to be certain if it was a scuffle between the two.
Reacting to a question about the incident while speaking to reporters in Hanoi, President Macron said, "We were just joking, as we often do".
'COUPLE'S HARMLESS SQUABBLE'
While the French President's office has attempted to downplay the incident, a close associate of President Macron later described the incident as a "couple's harmless squabble" while speaking to news agency AFP.
Another member of the President's entourage played down the significance of the incident. "It was a moment when the President and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by joking around," he said.
"It's a moment of togetherness. No more was needed to feed the mills of the conspiracy theorists," the source added.
President Macron is on a week-long official visit to Southeast Asia with Vietnam being his first stop. He will also be visiting Indonesia and Singapore later this week.
