A court in Paris has convicted 10 people, including a French gallery owner, of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron, the First Lady of France, linked to a conspiracy theory alleging she was born male.
On Monday, December 5, the court found 56-year-old art dealer Bertrand Scholler, owner of the gallery 55 Bellechasse near the Rodin Museum in Paris’s 7th arrondissement, guilty alongside others. They faced charges for social media posts advocating the false claim that Macron was originally a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux, which is actually her brother’s name.
Le Monde reported that the court described the posts as “particularly degrading, insulting, and malicious.” Some comments also targeted the age difference in the Macrons’ relationship, claiming it was rooted in pedophilia due to Emmanuel meeting Brigitte when he was 15 and she was his 39-year-old teacher. Scholler and the others must suspend their social media accounts for six months, pay a €600 (~$700) fine each, and jointly compensate Brigitte Macron €10,000 ($12,000).
The New York Times noted that defendants claimed their remarks were intended as jokes or legitimate debate. Meanwhile, the Macrons are pursuing a defamation lawsuit in Delaware against right-wing podcaster Candace Owens for similar allegations, offering DNA evidence to confirm Brigitte Macron’s female birth.
Hyperallergic has reached out for comments from Bertrand Scholler via his gallery.
