Macron accused of dumbing down presidency after 'anecdote duel' with Youtube comedians

France is split over whether a face-off at between Emmanuel Macron and two Youtube comedians is a presidential PR coup to woo the country’s youth or a “nail in the coffin” of the status of head of state.

After launching a "culture pass" offering all 18-year-olds €300 to spend on culture via TikTok last week, Mr Macron, 43, struck again in his bid to charm French youth this weekend by agreeing to an “anecdote duel” versus online stars McFly and Carlito - whose Youtube posts regularly attract millions. Participants must guess whether these are true.

The French president agreed to the exercise in February on condition the pair clocked up more than 10 million views for a Youtube post inviting the French to respect Covid distancing measures - a challenge they pulled off within 72 hours.

Mr Macron kicked off the 36-minute contest by claiming that Kylian Mbappe was about to leave Paris-Saint-Germain football club to play for the French president's favourite team and PSG nemesis, Marseille. To prove his point, he rang the star player who predictably declared the idea “impossible”.

With the president at one stage three-nil down in the exchange, during which Carlito joked about smoking a joint of “pure weed” and employed the word “mindf---” in English, the match ended in a 4-4 draw when Mr Macron guessed correctly that the comedians’ favourite heavy metal group, Ultra Vomit, was indeed at the bottom of the Elysée garden about to start a concert.

As a result, the president agreed to place a framed photo of the pair pulling faces on his desk during the traditional Bastille Day interview while they agreed to go on an acrobatic flight with la Patrouille de France, the country’s Red Arrows equivalent.

In terms of audience figures, the unusual stunt proved a success, clocking up eight million views by Monday lunchtime.

However, with regional elections seen as a litmus test for next year’s presidential elections coming up next month, the jury was out on whether it would help or hinder Mr Macron’s political ambitions.

French opposition politicians were predictably sniffy.

Laurent Jacobelli, spokesman for Marine Le Pen’s far-Right National Rally party, said: “To put the last nail in the coffin of the presidential function, (Macron) becomes a Youtuber”.

Green leader Yannick Jadot said he would do better actually helping young people, who are suffering from his controversial education reforms and financially and psychologically from lockdown.

“He’s incapable of giving the young minimum welfare (RSA) and some are still queuing up to get food packages. It’s not by doing clips with influencers that he’s going to help them,” he told France Info.

Social media specialist Antoine Kalawski said the comedians may end up regretting being party to a “political propaganda” coup destined for the 15 to 25-year-olds via the “halo effect” by which their cool image rubs off on Mr Macron. Online programme Arret sur Images called them “influencers under influence”.

But observers said Mr Macron had not reinvented the wheel.

“It’s a classic of the Fifth Republic to break image of the image of President Jupiter who comes down from his (Mount) Olympus to take on youth,” said Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet, political communication experts at Sciences-po told Le Parisien.

The newspaper pointed out that former prime minister Michel Rocard had to deal with far more direct grilling on one provocative chat show when asked: “Does a blow job count as cheating?”

Political editorialist Dominique de Monvallon said like it or not, Mr Macron was master in the art of “wrong-footing” his adversaries.

“He takes risks but his opponents struggle to follow,” he said on Twitter.

Mr Macron’s efforts to woo young voters appears to be paying off. A poll for JDD on Sunday showed that while his monthly approval rating in May rose three points to 40 per cent - higher than his two predecessors at this stage in their term - his standing among 18 to 24-year-olds shot up eight points to 51 pent.

However, he faces a tougher challenge seducing the 25 to 34-year-old bracket, who vote in larger numbers for Ms Le Pen, his most likely presidential rival.

These, said Ifop director Frédéric Dabi, constitute the “job scheme generation, those who are paying cash and live for the effects of the crisis”.