Brazilians have taken to social media to "apologise" to Brigitte Macron after their president made "extraordinarily disrespectful" comments towards her.
ADVERTISEMENTBrazilians have taken to social media to "apologise" to Brigitte Macron after their president made "extraordinarily disrespectful" comments towards her.
Jair Bolsonaro appeared to unfavourably compare the ages of France's First Lady, 66, and his third wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, 37.
"You understand now why Macron persecutes Bolsonaro," Facebook-user Rodrigo Andeaca wrote on the Brazil president's Facebook page.
Bolsonaro liked the comment and wrote: "Don't humiliate the man — LOL."
It comes after Bolsonaro was enraged last week by Macron's decision to make the devastating Amazon wildfires a key item on the agenda at the G7 in Biarritz.
Macron called Bolsonaro's comments "extraordinarily rude". He also suggested that Brazilian women should be ashamed of the behaviour of their head of state.
Hashtags including #DesculpaBrigitte and #PardonBrigitte (sorry, Brigitte) were trending worldwide as social media users posted messages to Mrs Macron.
Well-known Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, also posted a video on Twitter “to the French people” in which he apologised, in French, for the "hysteria of Bolsonaro towards France, the French president and the French first lady.”
“As the Amazon burns, the Brazilian government has no argument. They resort to insult, denial and ridiculous comments to avoid taking responsibility,” Mr Coelho continued.
French media, quoting Mrs Macron's entourage, have said the First Lady of France was "touched" by the messages.
It is the latest in a series of tensions between the two world leaders, following Macron’s call on the G7 summit to place the Amazon wildfires as the "first-order" of their agenda.
Bolsonaro has criticised Macron on Twitter for attacking the "sovereignty" of Brazil and treating the country like a "colony".