British Prime Minister Keir Starmer poked fun at his French counterpart on Tuesday – by putting on a pair of sunglasses at an event before saying, “bonjour”.
The joke was a reference to President Emmanuel Macron’s now viral wearing of Top Gun-style aviator sunglasses at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week.
The prime minister then uploaded a video of the joke to his TikTok account, tagging Mr Macron and captioning the post, “talk to me, Goose,” a famous quote from the film Top Gun.
Macron wearing sunglasses at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Top). The eye condition that caused the move by Macron. Pics: Reuters
The French president replied within minutes, writing “for sure”.
That was a reference to a widely shared clip of his Davos speech where he uttered the phrase, for sure, multiple times.
Sir Keir Starmer then took the joke one step further by replying to Mr Macron’s comment with a mock-up of the two leaders standing side by side in a Top Gun image.
The sunglasses quip was made by Mr Starmer at a recording of Matt Forde’s Political Party Live podcast at London’s Duchess Theatre – receiving a big laugh from the crowd.
The two leaders are leading the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ supporting Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
Mr Macron originally donned the shades at Davos to hide a benign medical issue with his right eye, according to the French president.
He wasn’t the only president to comment on the fashion choice.
“Those beautiful sunglasses,” Trump said in his Davos address. “What the hell happened?”
The French president’s office said the shades were made by a French firm, Henry Jullien.
At €659 (£573) the Pacific S 01 model sunglasses aren’t cheap.
But that didn’t stop a surge in demand, leaving the manufacturer struggling to keep up.
The firm had to create a dedicated page which read: “Our eShop website is experiencing an exceptional volume of visits and enquiries.”
Shares of its Italian parent company, iVision Tech SpA, soared on Milan’s stock exchange – from €1.51 (£1.31) a share when Macron spoke Tuesday, to a high on Friday of €2.63 (£2.29).
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“Crazy week,” Stefano Fulchir, iVision’s CEO, told AP. “Very honoured and happy that President Macron has used our eyewear in this important event.”
Cristina Archetti, author of Politicians, Personal Image and The Construction of Political Identity, went as far as saying that “he [Macron] does look hot”.
She added that 48-year-old Macron looked “relatively young and super cool”.
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