French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, have filed a new defamation lawsuit against American podcaster Candace Owens in federal court in Tennessee, accusing her of spreading false claims about the French first lady through her podcast and social media posts. The 409-page complaint, filed on 4 November 2026, contains 88 counts of defamation, false light and defamation by implication, and seeks damages, punitive damages and a court order barring Owens from repeating statements found to be defamatory.
Read this story on Watan News: Macrons File New Defamation Lawsuit Against Candace Owens in Tennessee
FAKTA
- The Macrons filed the new lawsuit on 4 November 2026 in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The case is Macron v. Owens, No. 3:26-cv-01765.
- The complaint runs to 409 pages and contains 88 counts of defamation, false light and defamation by implication against Owens personally.
- The Macrons say Owens has endorsed, repeated and published false claims, including that Brigitte Macron was born a man and committed identity theft, that the couple are blood relatives, and that President Macron was chosen for his job as part of a CIA mind-control programme.
- The claims were spread through Owens’s eight-part podcast series “Becoming Brigitte” and accompanying posts on X, according to the complaint, which also says she used the claims to sell merchandise, collect donations and promote subscriptions.
- The couple first sued Owens and two of her companies in Delaware in July 2025. On 27 October 2026, a Delaware judge dismissed Owens personally from that case, ruling the court lacked personal jurisdiction over her because she lives in Tennessee. The case against her two Delaware-registered companies continues.
- The Tennessee suit seeks damages in an amount to be determined at trial, punitive damages, compensation for legal costs, and a narrow court order barring Owens from publicly making statements found to be defamatory.
- Owens acknowledged the new lawsuit in a post on X on 9 November, writing: “The Macrons have indeed filed a NEW set of claims against me. 88 in total.”
- No court has decided whether Owens committed defamation. The Tennessee case remains pending, and Owens did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Why the Macrons Sued Again in Tennessee
The new filing is a direct response to the Delaware court’s ruling last month. The Macrons first sued Owens in July 2025, accusing her of waging what the Delaware complaint called a lie-filled “campaign of global humiliation” and “relentless bullying” to promote her podcast and expand her audience. On 27 October 2026, Delaware Superior Court Judge Sheldon K. Rennie ruled that the court could not hear the case against Owens personally because she is not a resident of Delaware, while allowing the lawsuit to continue against two companies associated with her that are registered in the state.
Owens lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and her company, Candace Owens LLC, is headquartered there. The new complaint, filed in the federal court for the Middle District of Tennessee, makes the same core arguments as the Delaware case but pursues them against Owens herself, in her home state. The Macrons are represented by a team of six lawyers from the Alexandria, Virginia, firm Clare Locke, which specialises in high-profile defamation cases.
Candace Owens and the Becoming Brigitte Series
At the centre of the dispute is Owens’s long-running claim about Brigitte Macron’s identity. According to the lawsuit, Owens said in March 2024 that she would stake her entire professional reputation on the claim that Brigitte Macron is a man. The complaint says she has since repeated and expanded the claims across her eight-part podcast series “Becoming Brigitte” and on X, where she has 7.7 million followers, alongside 6.1 million subscribers on YouTube.
The complaint describes the claims as “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions” and states: “These claims are demonstrably false, and Owens knew they were false when she published them.” It also singles out a “Brigitte doll” that Owens holds in her videos, describing it as a grotesque figure that caricatures Mrs Macron’s body. The suit says other high-profile podcasters, including Joe Rogan, amplified the allegations to tens of millions of listeners.
The Macrons’ lawyers frame the case as being about deception rather than identity. “To be clear, there is nothing shameful or defamatory about being a man, being transgender, or being gay,” the lawsuit says. “Owens’s statements are defamatory because they accuse the Macrons of lying to France and to the world, for decades, about who Mrs. Macron is — and of committing crimes to conceal that supposed lie.” The complaint adds that the Macrons have experienced “relentless bullying on a worldwide scale” as a result.
Candace Owens recording her podcast. The Macrons say her eight-part series “Becoming Brigitte” spread false claims about the French first lady.
What the Macrons Are Asking the Court to Do
The Tennessee suit asks for actual, presumed and punitive damages, with the amount to be determined at trial, along with compensation for the costs of the lawsuit. It also seeks a narrowly tailored injunction that would bar Owens from republishing any statements a court finds to be defamatory. That is a narrower request than a blanket ban on discussing the Macrons: it would apply only to statements found defamatory after a trial.
The case is not the first legal action over the claims in France. In January 2026, a Paris court handed suspended prison sentences to eight men and two women for disseminating what it called “particularly degrading and insulting” claims against Mrs Macron. The Tennessee case, however, is the first time the Macrons have been able to pursue Owens personally in a US court, after the Delaware ruling limited their earlier case to her companies.
Timeline: From Delaware to Tennessee
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| March 2024 | Owens says she will stake her professional reputation on the claim that Brigitte Macron is a man |
| July 2025 | The Macrons sue Owens and two of her companies for defamation in Delaware |
| 27 October 2026 | A Delaware judge dismisses Owens personally for lack of jurisdiction; the case against her companies continues |
| 4 November 2026 | The Macrons file a new 409-page complaint with 88 counts against Owens in federal court in Tennessee |
| 9 November 2026 | Owens acknowledges the new lawsuit in a post on X |
What Happens Next
The Tennessee case is at its earliest stage. The court records available so far show the complaint has been filed; there has been no ruling on whether Owens committed defamation or is legally responsible for any harm. The case will now move through the usual federal court process, including service of the complaint, Owens’s response, and any early motions, before any trial date is set.
The Delaware proceedings against Owens’s companies continue separately. How the two cases interact — and whether the Tennessee court accepts jurisdiction over all 88 counts — will shape how far and how fast the Macrons’ claim against Owens personally can proceed.
Conclusion
The Macrons’ Tennessee lawsuit is the latest turn in a dispute that began with a podcast claim in 2024 and has already passed through a Delaware courtroom. By filing in Owens’s home state, the couple have found a court that can hear their case against her personally, and they have done so with a far longer and more detailed complaint than the one they filed last year. Whether the courts agree that Owens defamed them is still to be decided, and the allegations remain claims, not findings. What is no longer in doubt is that the Macrons intend to keep pursuing them.
