The President’s office initially suggested the “shove” footage was fake, AI-generated footage, only to admit later that the images were real but were a sign of “closeness” and horseplay after a 16-hour flight.
Macron later blamed “crackpot” conspiracy theorists for seeking to intensify speculation around the state of his marriage.
In a fresh bid to quell continued speculation that the couple had fallen out, they chose to play up their departure from the presidential plane in Jakarta.
A member of Macron’s entourage told state radio station France Info that the sequence was a deliberate send-up.
“Yes, they wanted to respond with self-deprecation,” the source was cited as saying.
It was “a gesture that will be seen as humorous by some ... and provocative by others”, the station suggested.
The gesture came hours after Macron’s communications team was reportedly in disarray over the “shove”, with splits reportedly emerging on how to handle the incident.
The panicked reaction and about-turn reflected simmering “tensions within the [President’s] communications unit”, according to France Info.
One Macron ally told the channel that the President’s office “ballsed up” by first talking about fake images. Another insisted that they had to act quickly, adding: “When they don’t, it turns into the conspiracy theory sphere. We’re in a world where there’s a need for clarity so as not to let crazy stuff flourish.”
Macron shrugged off the incident, saying: “My wife and I were squabbling, or rather we were joking, and I was taken by surprise. Now it has become a kind of planetary catastrophe, and some are even coming up with theories.”
But Jean-Claude Dassier, a commentator for private radio station Europe1, bemoaned a “catastrophic” PR reaction over what for him was “clearly a row”, but not an affair of state.
“Why haven’t we heard from Brigitte? For once, it would have been useful to have her plain and simple explanation.”
Meanwhile, Olga Ciesco, a body language expert, insisted the initial incident was a dispute of some kind. While not a “slap”, the shove was “a gesture of rejection”, she told the celebrity magazine Gala.
“She puts her hand on his cheek and pushes him to the point where he is forced to turn his head,” she said. “He was rejected, a kind of rebuff.
“We can also see that he is reaching out to his wife, because he is used to supporting her, out of gallantry. But she doesn’t take his hand, she doesn’t accept his help. She is clearly saying no.”
