Clip of French president slapped at meet-and-greet was filmed in June 2021, not November 2022

A clip of French President Emmanuel Macron being slapped across the face at a meet-and-greet with members of the public was filmed in June 2021, but users shared the clip in November 2022 with false claims that the president had been slapped again.

In June, a court ordered Damien Tarel, the man who slapped Macron on June 8, to serve four months in jail, BFM TV reported at the time.

Although the incident was covered widely by the media, users shared another angle of the same incident in November 2022 with claims that the president had been hit again.

The clip was not filmed recently, and instead, shows an angle filmed from the opposite side of a guard railing that separated the French president from members of the public on June 8, 2021.

Clips filmed at a different angle were published by media outlets including Reuters in July 2021, where Macron can be seen jogging up to a small group of people with two individuals, presumably members of his security personnel, jogging behind the president.

A man in a green t-shirt can then be seen striking toward the president, with Macron subsequently jolted backward by a member of his personnel, away from the man who slapped him.

Reuters geolocated the clip currently circulating online to 138 Rue Jean Monnet, Tain-L'Hermitage, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the exact location where the 2021 incident occurred.

A comparison between Google maps and a frame from the newly circulated clip can be viewed, confirming that the clip was filmed in Tain-L'Hermitage.

Meanwhile, a side-by-side comparison between a frame taken from the clip of the incident published by Reuters in June 2021 to a frame of the video circulating in November 2022 similarly proves that both videos show the same incident, filmed in the exact same location with individuals captured in both clips wearing the same clothing.

The earliest iteration Reuters found showing the fresh angle of the 2021 incident was uploaded to Twitter on Nov 12 by French lawyer, Juan Branco.

Branco told Reuters that he represents Tarel and confirmed that the clip showed a different angle of the same 2021 incident.

VERDICT

False. A clip of French President Macron being slapped by a member of the public was not filmed in November 2022 and instead, shows a seemingly newly published angle of a June 2021 incident where Macron was struck by a member of the public in Tain-L'Hermitage, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.