French President Macron sues right-wing podcaster Candace Owens

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife on Wednesday sued Candace Owens for defamation over the far-right commentator’s repeated allegations that first lady Brigitte Macron was born a man.

The lawsuit, filed in Delaware, alleges that Owens ignored the Macrons’ attempts to set the record straight in favor of mocking them and retaliated when they requested a retraction.

In an eight-part podcast she created and in social media posts, Owens promoted “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions,” the lawsuit alleges. Among those claims are that Brigitte Macron stole another person’s identity; that she and the president were blood relatives engaged in incest; and that they were committing forgery, fraud and abuses of power.

A spokesperson for Owens said she “is not shutting up” and would address the lawsuit in her show later Wednesday.

“This is a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist,” the spokesperson said.

The French Embassy could not be reached for comment.

Tom Clare, an attorney representing the Macrons, called the suit a “clear-cut case of defamation.”

The Macrons said in a statement that they “concluded that referring the matter to a court of law was the only remaining avenue for remedy” after three retraction requests were disregarded.

Owens worked for the Daily Wire and Turning Point USA before starting her own podcast. She has more than 4.4 million subscribers on YouTube.