No, France has not paid Candace Owens to stop claiming Brigitte Macron is trans – it’s fake news
Candace Owens (L) has been spreading the claim that Brigitte Macron (R) is trans since last year. (Getty)
A social media account known for spreading disinformation recently claimed that France had offered right-wing pundit Candace Owens millions of dollars to stop spreading a rumour about Brigitte Macron being trans.
Legitimate Targets, a verified X/Twitter account, first spread the claim on 10 March in a post that read: “Breaking: France offered to pay Candace Owens a one-time payment of $4 million (almost £3.1 million) and $50,000 (£38,600) per month for the rest of her life, if she stopped reporting on Brigitte Macron.”
The account is run by Jackson Hinkle, who is well-known for sharing false claims on his X account.
🚨🇫🇷🏳️⚧️ BREAKING: FRANCE offered to pay CANDACE OWENS a one-time payment of $4 MILLION & $50K per-month for the rest of her life, if she STOPPED REPORTING on BRIGITTE MACRON. pic.twitter.com/1SkeYLs3hW
— Legitimate Targets (@LegitTargets) March 10, 2025
The claim made its way to Instagram, and many people seem to have taken the claim at face value, with one saying: “So, it is true: Brigitte [Macron] is a man.”
Candace Owens has been pushing the claim since last year, even going as far as to release an eight-part audio and video series, Becoming Brigitte, to investigate.
Although it was Owens who popularised the theory in the US, it began in France last June after someone commented on the appearance of the French president’s wife as she came out of a polling booth during the European Union parliamentary elections.
The post questioned who “Emmanuel Macron” was “married to”. In response, Owens quoted the post and wrote: “A man.”
The theory had not been picked up by any reputable news outlets, and there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that France’s first lady is transgender.
Owens previously claimed that George Soros was funding Black Lives Matter protests in Minnesota and alleged that NATO was expanding eastward. Fact-checking website Politifact branded both claims false.
Brigitte Macron was awarded damages after suing two women who claimed, in a clip posted on YouTube in 2021, that she was transgender.
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