A video showing French President Emmanuel Macron being slapped during a public appearance has resurfaced on social media, with a post published on August 22, 2026, drawing more than 1.4 million views.
But despite the renewed attention, the footage does not show a new incident involving Macron in 2026.
The video was recorded on June 8, 2021, when Macron was visiting Tain-l’Hermitage in the Drôme region of southeastern France. During the public appearance, the French president approached people gathered behind a barrier and was struck in the face by a man.
The old footage was shared again on X with the caption, “WINNING! Macron was reportedly slapped in public an unexpected start to the day,” accompanied by French flag imagery.
The post was published at 2:51 p.m. on August 22, 2026, according to the information displayed on X. It subsequently accumulated approximately 1.4 million views.
An X context note attached to the post warned users that the video was not recent.
“This video is from June 8, 2021, when Macron was slapped during a public greeting in France. It is not a recent 2026 incident,” the note said.
A later post from the same account also repeated the clarification, explicitly telling viewers that the footage came from 2021.
The original incident happened as Macron was carrying out a public visit in the Drôme region. He had been visiting Tain-l’Hermitage as part of a tour that included meetings connected to the reopening of restaurants and discussions with local people.
Video from the scene shows Macron approaching a group of people standing behind metal barriers. He reached toward one man to greet him before the man grabbed the president’s arm and struck him on the left side of the face.
The incident was immediately followed by a response from Macron’s security team. Security personnel moved in, took control of the man and moved the president away from the area.
The man was heard shouting “Montjoie Saint-Denis” before the assault, along with words directed against Macron and his political movement. The phrase is associated with an old French royalist battle cry.
The incident was widely recorded and circulated online at the time. Multiple versions of the footage appeared, including videos from different angles, but fact-checkers confirmed that they showed the same June 2021 event.
French authorities also responded to the incident. Two people were arrested following the assault and placed in custody, according to reporting from the time.
Macron continued his visit after the incident. His entourage described the episode as a brief incident, while Macron himself later sought to play down what had happened. Contemporary reporting said he described it as an isolated act and called for the incident to be put into perspective.
The resurfacing of the footage in August 2026 therefore does not represent a new attack on the French president. Instead, it is an example of an older news video returning to social media years after the original event.
The distinction is important because the footage itself contains no obvious indication for a casual viewer that it was recorded years earlier. When an old video is reposted without its original date or context, viewers can easily assume that the images document a current event.
In this case, however, the available reporting clearly places the incident on June 8, 2021, in Tain-l’Hermitage, France. Contemporary coverage from multiple news organizations and a later AFP fact-check all identify the footage as coming from that event.
The viral 2026 post may have generated significant attention, but the footage should not be presented as evidence that Macron was slapped during a new public appearance in 2026.
For anyone encountering the clip online, the key fact is simple: the video is real, but it is more than five years old.
