Presidential denial: Macron says bodyguard was not his gay lover. Photo: Présidence de la République
French President Emmanuel Macron has denied rumours he was having a gay affair with his sacked former head of security.
Alexandre Benalla was sacked as Macron’s chief security officer last week, after a video of him beating protesters went public.
The bodyguard: Arrested after video of him beating up protester emerged. Photo: Youtube video
The French leader also had to assure party colleagues that the bodyguard did not have access to codes for the nation’s nuclear weapons.
‘Alexandre Benalla has never had the nuclear codes … Alexandre Benalla is not my lover,’ he said at the beginning of a 30 minute address to his En Marche party.
Macron also accepted full responsibility for the scandal surrounding the violent actions of his bodyguard in the video. He defended the sacking of Benalla, saying his behaviour in the video footage fell short of what he expected.
‘What happened on May 1 is terrible, serious and, for me, it was a disappointment and a betrayal.’
The Huffington Post has a video of the attack here:
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Police arrested Benalla earlier this week as investigators raided the Élysée Palace – the president’s residence – in connection with the investigation. Computers, notebooks and other material were confiscated according to the Daily Telegraph.
Macron faced similar rumours with former radio boss
It is the second time Macron has had to deny he is gay. Earlier this year the French leader had to quash persistent rumours of a gay lover affair with handsome radio boss Mathieu Gallet. At the time, Gallet was ceo broadcaster, Radio France.
There were rumours that a paparazzi photographer had managed to take some salacious pictures of Macron with Gallet in a forest.
Macron sacked Gallet from Radio France earlier this year, following the media boss’s conviction of corruption. However, some reports suggest this was a cover to dispel talk of a gay affair between the two.
Rumoured affair: Former Radio France ceo also linked to Macron in gay rumours. Photo: Mathieu_Gallet Twitter
The French leader also launched an astonishing Trump-like attack on the media and its coverage of the scandal.
‘We have a press that no longer seeks truth’, he told his party. ‘The media says, ‘Look. Looped images of a scene [Benalla’s violence]’, which is unacceptable and which I condemn.
‘But I would like to see the scene before, the scene after, the context, what happened.
‘Are the images shown with the desire to seek truth and to present facts in a balanced manner?’ he asked.
Macron, 40, has been married to his wife Brigitte, 64, since 2007. They met in Amiens when he was a teenager and she was his teacher. The 24 year age gap in their relationship is a constant source of fascination to many.
See also:
Russian media: Macron is a ‘gay psychopath that hates France’
Twitter loses its mind over bromance between French and Canadian leaders
