Images filmed on Sunday May 25 in the descent of the presidential plane in Hanoi, Vietnam, aroused a keen stir on social networks. We see President Emmanuel Macron briefly receiving a gesture on the face, interpreted by some as a stampede from his wife, Brigitte Macron.
On the video, the head of state, still in the aircraft, seems to exchange a few words with a person off scope when one hand briefly repels him at the level of the chin. Visibly surprised, he immediately turned to the cameras and salutes the journalists present on the Tarmac. Shortly after, the presidential couple went back to the plane steps to start an official visit to Vietnam. Brigitte Macron, dressed in a red jacket, does not respond to an attempt by her husband to offer her her arm.
The images were taken up massively on social networks on Monday, May 26, notably by the Russia Today channel and some accounts accusing Brigitte Macron of a “violent gesture”. These interpretations quickly circulated, fueling various conspiratorial stories.
The Élysée formally denied any aggression scene. An advisor to the presidency evokes “a moment of complicity and relaxation” between the presidential couple before the start of the official program. “The president and his wife are used to joking to release the pressure. It is a stolen moment, wrongly interpreted, “he explains, while castigating the recovery of the image by certain media and accounts linked to the Prorussian sphere.
At first, another advisor present on the spot would have qualified the images of “fake”, before adjusting his remarks. From Paris, the presidency now evokes a “misunderstanding”: the initial reaction aimed to deny any violence, in a context of dissemination of accusations deemed unfounded by the authorities.
The short extract, relayed by Associated Press and RT, continues to fuel online debates and speculation, in an already tense climate around disinformation. The Élysée, which now assumes a more offensive posture in the face of the fake news, intends to prevent this type of images from eating lying or malicious accounts for political purposes.
🔴 Polish | Water in gas between Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron? A video is circulating on the networks by showing the First Lady violently attacking President Macron when they arrived in Vietnam.pic.twitter.com/otxakslhm2— Jon de Lorraine (@jon_delorraine) May 25, 2025
