Former French diplomat Gerard Araud accused of misogyny over tweet

Ex-ambassador to the US and Israel widely condemned for trivialising consent

Gerard Araud, a former French ambassador to the US, the UN and Israel, has been accused of misogyny over his tweet. AFP

A former senior French diplomat sparked outrage online after a message he posted on Twitter drew accusations of misogyny and trivialising consent.

"The difference between a lady and a diplomat? When a lady says No, it means maybe. When maybe, it's Yes and when Yes, she is not a lady. When a diplomat says Yes, it means maybe. When maybe, it's No and when No, he is not a diplomat," wrote Gerard Araud, who served as France's ambassador to the US, the UN and Israel before retiring in 2019.

He responded to one Twitter user’s criticism by asking for “a bit of humour please”.

The message posted on Saturday night has since been deleted, though was still online at midday GMT on Sunday.

Mr Araud eventually went on to apologise on Twitter, saying "I heard you. I learnt. I am sorry."

Mr Araud continued to tweet about unrelated matters, such as Greece and Cyprus.

Dr Jennifer Cassidy, a politics lecturer at the University of Oxford, called Mr Araud’s message “a disgrace” to the French Foreign Ministry.

“This particular ‘lady diplomat’ profoundly disagrees,” said Sonja Hyland, the political director of the Irish Foreign Ministry.

Fionna O’Leary, a retired lawyer, asked if Mr Araud had “completely lost the plot”.

“I recommend a smart return to diplomat school and a rapid deletion of this tweet,” she said. “I’ve prosecuted rapists who tried that line on for size. Not funny then. Not funny now.”

Wolfgang Blau, a German author and former chief operating officer of Conde Nast, said “when a woman says ‘no’, it really means ‘no’. Humour doesn’t exist in a vacuum.”

Mr Araud, who when stepping down as ambassador to Washington in 2019 described former US president Donald Trump as unpredictable, has more than 82,000 followers on Twitter.