Macron-Shoving Clip Misrepresented to Show Bloodied Flight Attendant
By Isis Blachez
What happened: Social media users are misrepresenting a viral clip of French President Emmanuel Macron being slapped and pushed by his wife into the doorway of the presidential plane — falsely claiming it shows a flight attendant with a bloodied shoulder and suggesting that the incident involved more than the Macron couple.
You can watch the video here:
Context: On May 25, shortly after the French presidential plane landed in Hanoi, Vietnam, Brigitte Macron was filmed pushing President Macron’s face as the aircraft door swung open — a moment captured in verified footage from The Associated Press (NewsGuard Trust Score: 100/100).
The incident was widely interpreted as evidence of marital discord, although Macron told reporters in Hanoi on May 26, “We were joking around with my wife, as we often do,” according to news reports.
A closer look: Some social media users claimed the video also shows a flight attendant with ripped clothing and what looks like blood on her left shoulder.
The claim appears to have originated on the pro-QAnon X account @CaptKylePatriot, which posted the video and stated, “Check out the stewardess’s ripped bloody shoulder.” The post garnered 10.3 million views and 16,000 likes in two days.
Conservative anti-Macron X user @TheRubberDuck79 published screenshots of the woman’s shoulder and of Brigitte Macron’s hand on Emmanuel Macron and stated: “Did Bridgette [sic] Macron try to eat the stewardess? Why her dress ripped and shoulder bloody?” The post received 76,000 views and 920 likes in two days.
Actually: A frame-by-frame analysis by NewsGuard found that the video shows a woman from the ground crew — not the flight crew — wearing an orange scarf draped over her left shoulder. Her clothing is intact, and there is no visible injury.
The orange hue of the scarf, combined with its textured pattern, may give the false impression of torn fabric and blood.
The woman does not appear to have been present on the flight, as she was standing on the exit staircase alongside the plane before its doors opened, the full Associated Press footage shows.