Pulse

French president scolds large African families, spends $31,000 on makeup

Emmanuel Macron was taken to task on social media for wasteful spending in the face of his comments about African culture.
Featured Image
French president Emmanuel Macron

Lisa
Bourne
Lisa Bourne

PARIS, France, August 28, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – French President Emmanuel Macron met with criticism and ridicule on social media last week after word surfaced that he has spent an excessive amount of money on makeup since taking office in May.

Numerous outlets have covered how Macron has dropped about 26,000 euros – more than 31,000 U.S. dollars – on the services of a personal makeup artist during his first three months in office.

The exorbitant amount of money spent on makeup struck one pro-life advocate in particular, who responded on Twitter with a reminder of his controversial assertion last month that the average number of children birthed by African women was holding the continent back as a civilization.

Culture of Life Africa’s founder and president Obianuju (Uju) Ekeocha tweeted:

Macron was asked during a Q&A at the G20 summit in July whether implementing a policy similar to America’s Marshall Plan for rebuilding Europe after World War II would be beneficial in Africa.

“The problems Africa face today are completely different,” Macron said in a lengthy reply, “and are ‘civilizational.’” 

He went on to list several serious challenges, and among them was a statistic of seven to eight children born to African women was “one of the essential challenges of Africa.”

When certain countries are still having seven to eight children per woman, Macron said, “you can decide to spend billions of euros, but you will not stabilize anything.” 

Ekeocha had called his comments “Ideological Supremacy.” And others took issue with the apparent colonialism in his remarks as well as his conflating statistics for one or two countries for the entire African continent.

Macron’s remarks were also termed racist. One Twitter user said it was “A repugnant speech,” and another online report said Macron’s full response to the question was “somewhat obnoxious and ham-handed.”

His makeup bill is getting similar response from some of Ekeocha’s followers, who called out the duplicity of excessive use of government funds for makeup while criticizing African birthrates.

Ekeocha had shared a report from The Telegraph on Macron’s makeup expense in her tweet.

Macron’s personal makeup artist, known only as Natacha M, submitted two bills, according to the report, one for €10,000 and another for €16,000.

The Elysees Palace defended the large fee, saying, “We called in a contracter as a matter of urgency.” This was the same makeup artist who had also applied foundation to Macron during his presidential campaign, Macron’s aides said, and spending on makeup would be “significantly reduced.”

Macron, 39, is France’s youngest modern president. Elected over Marine Le Pen in May, he is referenced in media reports as centrist. However, he supports abortion and the LGBT movement.

His approval rating is at 36 percent, according to U.S. News and World Report.

Interestingly, his makeup bill is not out of line with his immediate predecessors.

Socialist Francois Hollande's makeup expenditure was 30,000 euros per quarter and 9,500 euros per month for his barber, according to The Telegraph, prompting charges of “shampoo socialism.”

Before Hollande, then Republican Nicolas Sarkozy, had paid 8,000 euros a month for his makeup. 

This was lost on many social media users, however, including some among readers of the The Telegraph article.

Other French government officials voiced criticism on Twitter as well.

François Asselineau, head of the Union Populaire Républicaine (Popular Republican Union party), tweeted, “The image of France once again humiliated. With its 26 K € makeup by quarter, #Macron becomes the laughing stock of the entire planet.”

A Vogue report also detailed reaction on Twitter, with one user kidding that Macron’s new slogan is “Make Up Great Again.” Another pondered whether Macron’s ratings would have dropped so low had he had gone to the drugstore for makeup instead. Others have photo-shopped the president’s face onto that of a drag queen or a clown.