President Emmanuel Macron of France had an awkward experience during his recent visit to America.
Macron, 47, was spotted in New York City on Sept. 22. The French politician is in the Big Apple to deliver a speech at the United Nations.
The Brut digital media company shared footage of cops stopping Macron on the streets of New York.
“I’m really sorry, Mr. President. I’m really sorry. It’s just that everything is frozen. There’s a motorcade coming right now,” an unidentified New York City police officer explained to Macron.
Macron tried to press his way through anyway and responded, “If you don’t see it, let me cross.” When the officer wouldn’t budge, The Renaissance party founder then seemingly called Trump on his cellphone to get some help with the situation after being told
Donald Trump was coming through.
“How are you?” he could be heard saying over the phone, presumably to the POTUS, as he stood behind a metal barricade while surrounded by security guards and photographers.
A laughing Macron continued, “Guess what, I’m waiting in the street because everything is frozen for you.” According to Brut, Macron still had to walk for nearly 30 minutes after the streets were cleared.
Macron was also seen taking pictures with fans. One man kissed him on the head, which led to the European leader saying, “It’s just a kiss. It doesn’t do any harm.”
The clip of Macron humbly standing on a New York street corner spread across the internet with social media users sharing their views on the unexpected moment.
“Macron is closer to the people here than our own president is,” read one, while another said, ‘How embarrassing.”
Another person wrote, “If this happened to Trump in France, it would start a war. That’s not how you treat the president of another country.”
“This just shows how likable and down-to-earth Macron is and how rude Trump is for treating his guests so poorly,” offered a critic of the American president.
However, some responses on X to Macron being blocked in NYC were more favorable to Trump. For instance, one person tweeted, “Macron learns who runs things in America, even off-duty.”
“Well done, USA. Outstanding in making the little man, a little man,” joked another X user. In contrast, someone stated, “Macron is not a coward like Trump. He’s strolling [through] NYC like a real human.”
Earlier this year, Macron went viral during his stop in Vietnam on May 25. He and France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron, seemed to have gotten into an altercation during the plane ride to the Asian nation.
Brigitte, 72, was filmed shoving her husband in the face as he was preparing to exit the plane. The embarrassing exchange was called a “moment of closeness” by a Macron spokesperson.
The relationship between Macron and Trump has been hot-and-cold throughout their respective terms as the heads of their countries’ governments.
Since Trump and Macron first took office in 2017, they have gone back and forth between cooperation and conflict over issues such as the Russia-Ukraine war and tariff policies.
