A 2017 clip showing Emmanuel Macron being splattered with an egg on his head, is being shared online falsely linking it to the French president's recent remarks defending free speech following the death of Samuel Paty - a high school teacher who was decapitated by a radical Islamist.
Samuel Paty was beheaded outside his school on October 16, 2020 by a Chechen origin radical Islamist for showing his class caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that were deemed to be offensive by some.
French President Emmanuel Macron while defending the ideal of free speech had criticised Islamists and vowed not to "give up cartoons" depicting the Prophet Mohammed. This led to calls on social media by many Muslim users to boycott French products in protest.
The viral clip shows Macron - then a presidential candidate - being hit by an egg at a public event sending his security staff into a tizzy.
The clip is being shared with the caption, "French President #Macron got egged publicly More than egging him, what's going to hurt him is if Muslims from all over the world get UNITED & #Boycott_French_Products & boycottfrance ShameOnYouMacron"
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
Viral on Facebook
On searching with the same caption, we found that the clip is being shared with the false claim.
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FACT-CHECK
On performing a keyword search using the words, 'Macron' and 'eggs', we found news reports which stated that the viral clip is from March 2017. The reports stated that Macron was attacked with an egg when he had attended the Salon International de l'Agriculture 2017 in Paris as the presidential candidate before the French elections.
We found a similar clip from the same event which was uploaded on March 1, 2017, by L'Express with the title which when translated from French reads, "Emmanuel Macron receives an egg at the Agricultural Show".
One can see the same set of events take place as in the viral clip and Macron being hit on the head with an egg. At the 23 seconds timestamp egg can be seen spattered over Macron's face, this video has been shot from a distance and the mike hanging above can be seen as in the viral clip.
The visuals as in the viral clip can be seen in this news report on the incident uploaded on March 2, 2017, by ETV Telangana.
The incident is from when Macron was running as the presidential candidate and was on the campaign trail before the French elections which were held in April 2017.
While visiting the annual Paris farm fair - a must stop for candidates in the spring presidential election - Macron got hit on the back of his head with an egg reported the Associated Press on March 1, 2017.
BOOM has previously debunked misinformation after the killing of the French teacher in Paris as unrelated videos and images have been shared with false claims.
Also Read: No, This Image Is Not Of The Teacher Who Was Beheaded In Paris
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