French President Emanuel Macron has been accused of toxic masculinity after a video emerged of him necking a bottle of beer in a rugby club.
According to The Times:
The president chugged the Corona in 17 seconds and then slammed the empty bottle down on a counter to cheers and whoops from players and staff of Toulouse, the French rugby union champions.
Macron had watched Toulouse beat La Rochelle in the final of the Top 14 championship at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, on Saturday. After the match, he went to the victors’ changing room to congratulate them.
Players and staff at Toulouse are said to have taken a “vow of silence” over the president’s caper, Le Figaro reported. But somehow the video found its way onto social media and, inevitably, went viral.
Laurence Rossignol, a Socialist senator, tweeted: “A beer down in one? What’s he trying to prove? That he’s a real man? A macho cliché.”
In a similar vein, Sandrine Rousseau, a Green party MP, tweeted: “Toxic masculinity in political leadership in one image.” Gilbert Collard, a right-wing MEP, accused him of “showing off”.
Not everyone criticised the president, however. Clément Poitrenaud, the Toulouse coach, said: “All I can tell you is that he got a good reception.”
Jean-Luc Moudenc, the mayor of Toulouse, said the president had responded to a good-humoured challenge by players. “It was a nice, very spontaneous moment,” the mayor said.
Le Président de la République est venu célébrer le 22e bouclier de Brennus du Stade Toulousain et s’est, lui aussi, distingué avec une remarquable performance 😱#Toulouse #FinaleTOP14 pic.twitter.com/q4MTU0yLGJ
— CANAL+ Rugby (@CanalplusRugby) June 18, 2023
