French President Emmanuel Macron‘s office on Monday played down the moment his wife Brigitte Macron appeared to shove him in the face in Vietnam at the start of the couple’s a Southeast Asia tour.
In the video captured Sunday, Macron could be seen standing in a plane’s open doorway when a hand appears to shove him in the face. Macron then pauses, turns to face outside the plane, and flashes a smile and waves, before moving out of frame.
The person who pushed Macron was largely out of frame, but appeared to be wearing a a jacket matching the suit color Brigitte Macron had on when the couple exited the aircraft together minutes later. Macron appeared to offer his wife his arm, which she did not take.
An official for the Elysee Palace played down the moment, saying the couple were “having a laugh.”
“It was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing one last time before the start of the trip by having a laugh,” the official said in a statement, according to Reuters, calling it a “moment of closeness.”
The Élysée Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
Emmanuel Macron, 47, and his wife Brigitte, 72, have been married since 2007. Neither independently addressed the incident.
Macron’s visit to Vietnam marks the first by a French president in almost a decade, with the trip aimed at promoting France’s influence in the former French colony.
The visit comes after President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to impose 50% duties on European Union goods starting on June 1, before delaying the deadline to July 27.
France and Vietnam signed a deal Monday for 20 Airbus planes, as well as defense and space agreements during Macron’s visit to Hanoi.
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