French President Macron on the 26th denied any "family disputes" with his wife and accused "Russians" and "extremists" of relentlessly attacking him online with "slap" videos.
Media captured footage on the tarmac in Hanoi, Vietnam, when the Macron couple's plane door opened, and Mrs. Macron's two red-sleeved arms flashed out, placing her hands on Macron's mouth. Although Macron quickly shook it off and smoothly turned to smile and wave outside, the "slap" action was caught on camera.
According to AFP, when the presidential couple subsequently stepped on the stairs, Macron, as usual, extended his arm to his wife, but she did not take it.
At the end of the day in Hanoi, Macron personally answered media questions, defending his image by saying that in the video, "I was arguing, joking with my wife, and I was startled."
He mocked, pointing out that this has become a "planetary disaster," and some have even come up with their own related "theories." After a long silence, Macron showed a sarcastic smile.
Macron also tried to equate this "slap" video incident with other "viral images" circulating in recent weeks and the interpretations of those images, especially the pictures of him with British and German leaders on a train to Ukraine.
Macron joked: “In the past three weeks (…), some people watched videos and thought I was sharing a bag of cocaine with others, and thought I was holding hands with the Turkish president, and now I've staged a domestic drama with my wife.”
He insisted, “Those (claims) aren't true, even though the three videos are true. So everyone needs to calm down, and most importantly, delve into the core issues of current affairs.”
He blamed the instrumentalization of videos on the "habit-tracking network," specifically pointing the finger at "Russians" and "France's (far-right) extremists."