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| French president gets ridiculed by mistake on live-streaming app | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| LONDON — Beware the Internet. Or at least know how to disable an app function. French President François Hollande just learned the hard way. | |
| Hollande’s recent visit to an Internet company, which his advisers thought would be cool to live-stream on a popular video app, turned into a public relations disaster after viewers were allowed to post comments on the screen in real time. | Hollande’s recent visit to an Internet company, which his advisers thought would be cool to live-stream on a popular video app, turned into a public relations disaster after viewers were allowed to post comments on the screen in real time. |
| Hundreds of viewers went for the president’s expanding waistline, his sex life, his dress sense and his failure to do anything about French unemployment. | Hundreds of viewers went for the president’s expanding waistline, his sex life, his dress sense and his failure to do anything about French unemployment. |
| One poster said that the president’s increasing girth suggested that a disproportionately large amount of France’s tax revenue was actually being diverted to Hollande’s food bill. | One poster said that the president’s increasing girth suggested that a disproportionately large amount of France’s tax revenue was actually being diverted to Hollande’s food bill. |
| Another commenter said his salary — 178,920 Euros a year ($194,387) — was clearly not enough, since he didn’t seem able to afford full-length suit pants. He called for the creation of a special French fund to buy 4 inches of cloth in order to make the suit trousers actually cover the president’s ankles. | Another commenter said his salary — 178,920 Euros a year ($194,387) — was clearly not enough, since he didn’t seem able to afford full-length suit pants. He called for the creation of a special French fund to buy 4 inches of cloth in order to make the suit trousers actually cover the president’s ankles. |
| “Laugh until you die,” posted one. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s completely lost,” the poster wrote, the London Times newspaper reported Thursday. | “Laugh until you die,” posted one. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s completely lost,” the poster wrote, the London Times newspaper reported Thursday. |
| “Did he come on a scooter?” wrote another viewer, a reference to photographs of Hollande arriving on a scooter to visit his then-mistress, French actress Julie Gayet, in 2014. The paparazzi photos of Hollande arriving on the scooter tarnished the president’s reputation and precipitated his split from his then-partner Valerie Trierweiler, who later wrote a tell-all book about the French leader. | “Did he come on a scooter?” wrote another viewer, a reference to photographs of Hollande arriving on a scooter to visit his then-mistress, French actress Julie Gayet, in 2014. The paparazzi photos of Hollande arriving on the scooter tarnished the president’s reputation and precipitated his split from his then-partner Valerie Trierweiler, who later wrote a tell-all book about the French leader. |
| The French news magazine, Le Nouvel Obs, called the 24 minutes the unrelenting insults were able to be viewed on the Periscope app, owned by Twitter, an online catastrophe for the president. | The French news magazine, Le Nouvel Obs, called the 24 minutes the unrelenting insults were able to be viewed on the Periscope app, owned by Twitter, an online catastrophe for the president. |
| And it seems it all could have been avoided by enabling a function that allows users to block unwanted comments, news reports said. | And it seems it all could have been avoided by enabling a function that allows users to block unwanted comments, news reports said. |
| At first the president’s team, who ostensibly thought it would be hip to showcase the president’s visit to online fashion store, Showroom-prive.com, tried to erase the most offensive comments. But they were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of insults being hurled at the French leader. | At first the president’s team, who ostensibly thought it would be hip to showcase the president’s visit to online fashion store, Showroom-prive.com, tried to erase the most offensive comments. But they were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of insults being hurled at the French leader. |
| After almost a half-hour, his staff managed to pull the plug and switch the broadcast to the Presidential Elysee website, where comments can be filtered. | After almost a half-hour, his staff managed to pull the plug and switch the broadcast to the Presidential Elysee website, where comments can be filtered. |
| But the damage had already been done. Several thousand people commented, with hundreds of them using pseudonyms, which is typical among Internet commenters. | |
| Public relations expert Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet was quoted by the press as saying the episode undermined the dignity of France’s presidential office — and perhaps worse, highlighted the sheer amateurishness of the president’s staff. Far from showing the president as hip and modern, it instead highlighted his ignorance of social media, the London Times quoted the PR expert as saying. | Public relations expert Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet was quoted by the press as saying the episode undermined the dignity of France’s presidential office — and perhaps worse, highlighted the sheer amateurishness of the president’s staff. Far from showing the president as hip and modern, it instead highlighted his ignorance of social media, the London Times quoted the PR expert as saying. |
| It wasn’t the first time Periscope got the better of a public figure, either — as French Internet users know well. A prominent French soccer player was broadcast insulting his manager and team-mates on the live-streaming app just last month. | |
| Read more: | Read more: |
| Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world | Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world |