| Submit your comments on this article | |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- | |
| 'Je suis le sexy chien!': UK papers lap up Hollande affair scandal | |
| 2014-01-12 | |
| [Al Ahram] British newspapers on Saturday leapt on allegations that Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... is having an affair with an actress, splashing the story over the front pages and poking fun at the French president. The story even made page one of the normally staid Financial Times as the British press described the claims as a "crisis" for Hollande, who is already struggling with unpopularity and economic woes. Both The Times and the Financial Times ran editorials on the subject, in a measure of how big the story is across the English Channel.
The Times ran with the headline 'Oui Mr President'. The actress, the scooter and an affair of state', referring to the report in Closer magazine which said that Hollande arrived at her flat on the back of a moped. Its editorial strongly argued in favour of Closer magazine's publication of the allegation. It said "the public interest is clear" both because of Hollande's position and also because of the security implications of his scooter travel. Instead of suing Closer, it added, "he would be wiser to accept the indulgent verdict of the magazine's editor that 'he's a President who has a crush,' and get on with governing a country in dire need of decisive governance." The Times also carried a spoof column pretending to be the president's diary for the week -- written in "Franglais", a mixture of French and English that is beloved of British satirists -- in which the fake Hollande says: "Je suis le sexy, dirty chien!" (I am a sexy, dirty dog). It also features a joke cameo from German Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... who tells him: "Du bist einen ludicrous slaphead." The Financial Times, not normally given to running large colour pictures of actresses on its front page, featured a photo of Gayet in a sober black dress. Its editorial was more charitable to Hollande than the Times's, saying that he should be allowed to "eat his croissants in peace" while he tackles La Belle France's problems -- and adding that he could not be called an adulterer because he had never been married. The Telegraph ran the headline "French president's 'mistress'" over the picture of Gayet in a revealing red dress. The newspaper said he was "facing a new crisis" and added for good measure: "Battling record unpopularity levels, the last thing the Socialist president needs is another scandal between the sheets." Several newspapers referred to the fact that Closer had published topless pictures of Prince William's wife, Kate in 2012, but they said the circumstances were different. Many of the British papers noted though that, as the Daily Telegraph put it, "affairs are nothing new in French presidential history". They noted the extra-marital affairs of former presidents Jacques Chirac and Francois Mitterrand, who even had a daughter born to a mistress. The left-leaning Guardian was sympathetic towards the socialist French president, reporting that Hollande had "enjoyed a rare moment of support and sympathy from across the political spectrum". The paper, which has led calls to reform its raucous tabloid rivals in Britannia, was largely responsible for exposing the phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's now defunct News of the World. It too noted that "presidential affairs are the rule rather than the exception in La Belle France". The right-wing Daily Mail website meanwhile carried a string of partially naked pictures -- with strategically placed blacked out areas -- of Gayet in her "sexually charged screen roles." But it also had an article on La Belle France's privacy laws entitled: "How the French elite keep public in the dark." | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 heh, EC |
| Posted by: Frank G 2014-01-12 15:09 |
| #9 I thought affairs were mandatory for French presidents? Even for those who look like your tax consultant. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2014-01-12 14:53 |
| #8 I am the sexy chicken? Chicken doesn't sound flattering. Maybe "chouchou?" |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2014-01-12 14:32 |
| #7 The Royals been quiet a long time? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-01-12 13:58 |
| #6 Gallic Monogamy™ - an oxymoron |
| Posted by: Frank G 2014-01-12 13:19 |
| #5 What kind of man is President Francois Hollande? Just like any other man, only more so. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-01-12 13:11 |
| #4 I for one think she is purdy and see a small ray of hope for President Hollande. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-01-12 13:07 |
| #3 "Du bist einen ludicrous slaphead." I am so stealing that one. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-01-12 12:49 |
| #2 here. Some NSFW |
| Posted by: Frank G 2014-01-12 12:17 |
| #1 Is there any chance Golf Bravo can provide pictures of Ms. Julie Gayet? Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2014-01-12 11:03 |