Overview
- A clip published Monday by the weekly magazine Public shows the First Lady backstage at Paris’s Folies Bergère telling Ary Abittan, “If there are ‘sales connes’, we’ll throw them out,” while laughing.
- The visit followed a Saturday action in which four #NousToutes activists wearing Abittan masks marked “violeur” interrupted his show and chanted “Abittan violeur” before security removed them.
- Ary Abittan was accused of rape in 2021, and after three years of investigation the case resulted in a non-lieu that was confirmed on appeal in January 2025.
- Left-wing figures including LFI deputies Sarah Legrain and Manuel Bompard denounced the language, with some urging an apology, while government spokesperson Prisca Thévenot acknowledged the wording was off but defended the criticism of repeated disruptions.
- An entourage statement for Brigitte Macron characterized her words as “a critique of the radical method” used by masked protesters and said she does not approve of that approach.