A “star” activist and parliamentary attaché of French President Emmanuel Macron’s Republic on the March party (LREM) has been accused of sexual assault by a female French parliament aide, forcing him to resign from his position.
The man accused is Morgan Simon, an activist for Macron’s presidential campaign who “stole the show” during Macron’s victory speech in front of the Louvre museum on May 7th becoming known as ‘the guy in the cap”.
Simon is accused of sexually assaulting a fellow activist during a meeting between members of Macron’s En Marche movement and its youth chapter Youth with Macron (JAM) in December of last year, L’Express reports.
After the legislative elections in June, Simon became a parliamentary aide to LREM MP Valérie Oppelt and his victim also became an aide to another LREM MP.
Earlier this week, Simon resigned from his position over allegations he made “more than inappropriate gestures” to the activist in the evening following the December meeting.
LREM MP Valérie Oppelt briefly commented on the accusations against her former attaché saying: “He was on probation […] There are accusations that exist, it’s up to him to defend himself, we have to respect the presumption of innocence.”
“It was terrible for him, and we signed his resignation by mutual agreement so that he could prepare his defence,” she added.
The allegations are the latest in a slew of sexual assault charges against members of the media and politics following the Weinstein affair and the subsequent #metoo campaign that encouraged women to step forward and report sexual harassment.
The scandal has implicated journalists like GQ UK political correspondent Rupert Myers who was sacked by the publication after a woman came forward claiming he had forced himself on her outside of a pub in London.
The scandals have even reached the European Union Parliament and implicated several MEPs. New figures released this week also show that there has been an allegation of sexual misconduct in the European Commission once every week for the last five years.
At the UK parliament, there has also been a number of women claiming that various MPs have been sexually harassing or assaulting them, with victims giving advice to other female staffers on which MPs to avoid on a private WhatsApp group chat.
Prime Minister Theresa May advised those involved to go directly to the police and report any sexual assaults saying they would be taken, “very seriously”.
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