The Macrons File a New Defamation Lawsuit Against Candace Owens in Tennessee

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, have filed a new defamation lawsuit against podcaster Candace Owens in her home state of Tennessee, The Guardian reported.

The lawsuit accuses Owens of repeatedly spreading defamatory claims about Brigitte Macron, the Hindustan Times reported. France 24 and Le Monde reported that the suit centers on Owens's claims that France's first lady was born a man, claims the Macrons say are false. Brussels Signal reported that the federal lawsuit seeks damages over false claims about Brigitte Macron's identity and over financial gain.

The new filing escalates a legal battle that has run on both sides of the Atlantic, The Guardian reported. The Macrons first sued Owens in Delaware in 2025 after she promoted the claims in a long series of podcast episodes. The Christian Post reported that the Tennessee case is the latest development after Owens repeatedly and publicly claimed the first lady was born male.

Filing in Tennessee, where Owens lives, brings the fight to her own backyard and to a federal court there.

Americans enjoy the strongest free-speech protections in the world, and that is a good thing. But the First Amendment has never protected knowingly false statements of fact that damage someone's reputation. Because the Macrons are public figures, they will have to meet a high bar: under a long line of Supreme Court cases, they must show not just that the claims are false but that Owens knew they were false or recklessly disregarded the truth.

That standard exists to protect robust debate about powerful people. It also means that if a public figure can prove a claim was spread with reckless disregard for the truth, the law offers a remedy.

The case will test where opinion ends and defamation begins in the age of podcasts and viral video, when a single host can reach millions of people with no editor in between. Conservatives have long, and rightly, complained about false stories spread by legacy media outlets. The same standards of truth should apply to everyone with a microphone, whatever their politics.

Owens has a large following among conservatives, and some of her fans see the lawsuits as an attempt by a foreign leader to silence an American critic. Others on the right have said the claims about Brigitte Macron were never worth defending and have embarrassed the movement.

Owens is expected to fight the suit. A Tennessee federal court will now weigh the evidence and decide where the line falls. Whatever the outcome, the case is a reminder that the freedom to speak comes with the responsibility to tell the truth.