A viral video clip showing French President Emmanuel Macron downing a beer in front of a cheering rugby team has become something of a cause célèbre among his fellow lawmakers. The footage shows Macron, 45, chugging a bottle of Corona in a locker room with players and staff from Toulouse after the team won a game that secured France’s domestic league title.
After the video spread online, French Socialist senator Laurence Rossignol tweeted: “A beer down in one? What’s he trying to prove? That he’s a real man? A macho cliché.” Green Party lawmaker Sandrine Rousseau was similarly unimpressed, tweeting: “Toxic masculinity in political leadership in one image.” Clément Poitrenaud, the Toulouse coach, was much more sanguine, saying that Macron “got a good reception,” according to The Times.
