France / Controversy at the top of the State: “If there are some dirty bitches, we’ll kick them out.”

A backstage video from Ary Abittan’s show at the Folies Bergère has been setting social media ablaze since Monday. The footage shows Brigitte Macron supporting the comedian, visibly anxious before going on stage, a day after feminist activists from the #NousToutes collective disrupted his performance, shouting “Abittan rapist”.

Ary Abittan was accused of rape in late 2021 by a woman he had been seeing for several weeks. The case was dismissed, with the non-prosecution ruling confirmed on appeal in January.

In the video, published by Public, the French First Lady responds to the worried artist: “If there are some dirty bitches, we’ll kick them out,” she says with a laugh, before adding, “Especially masked thugs.” The remarks immediately sparked a wave of outrage.

“Shocked and outraged,” activists from #NousToutes denounce what they describe as “extremely violent” words, seen as “yet another spit in the face of victims and feminist organisations”. They say their action aimed to challenge public opinion over the return to the stage of a man accused of sexual violence, despite the judicial decision.

Amid the backlash, Brigitte Macron’s entourage argued that the remarks should be understood as “a criticism of the radical method used” by the activists, insisting they targeted the form of the protest rather than the feminist cause itself.

But the controversy goes far beyond that explanation. Actress Judith Godrèche voiced her support for the collective on Instagram: “I am also a dirty bitch.” Political figures have condemned the comments as “extremely serious” and incompatible with the role of First Lady. Green Party leader Marine Tondelier noted that while the courts have ruled, public debate remains legitimate. LFI MEP Manon Aubry sees in the episode the symbol of a presidency that proclaimed women’s rights a “great national cause”, before, in her words, trampling on them.

Behind the uproar lies a deeper fracture: between institutions and feminist movements, between judicial legality and activist speech, between the spotlighted stage and the shadows of power. One sentence, a few seconds of video, and the veneer of consensus begins to crack.

By: Cécile Durmaz