PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has stirred controversy after he was filmed chugging a pint of beer in 17 seconds while visiting a rugby dressing room, the media reported on Tuesday.
In a report, the Independent newspaper said the footage shows the President being handed a pint of Corona beer in the Toulouse changing room after the rugby union club beat La Rochelle at the Stade de France in Paris over the weekend.
The president had watched the match from the VIP enclosure.
Being urged to down the drink in one, Macron chugs the pint to cheering from the players and coaching staff, many with their phones out to capture the moment, the Independent.
The President then slams the empty pint on the counter. But the incident has been criticised by opposition politicians.
“Toxic masculinity in political leadership in one image,” tweeted Sandrine Rousseau, an MP for the Green party.
Rousseau’s tweet prompted a reply from an MP within Mr Macron’s own party, Jean-Rene Cazeneuve, who said: “A President who is sharing in the joy of 23 players and taking part in their traditions. That’s all.”
Bernard Basset from the charity Association Addictions France told the local BFMTV that the “President has a responsibility as a role model in terms of setting a healthy example for behaviour”.
“In this case, he’s associating sport, parties and the consumption of alcohol in a context of virile peer-pressure where everyone drinks a bit too much.”
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