French left-wing MEP Manon Aubry (La France Insoumise) has faced widespread criticism on social media after videos emerged showing her on a sailboat and arriving in Brussels in a chauffeur-driven luxury car, contrasting with her public image as an accessible, bicycle-riding campaigner.
A video circulated on June 26 showing Aubry in her bathing suit on a sailboat off Corsica. The woman filming her commented was surprised seeing the “poor leftist on her boat”.
The French MEP campaigns on attacking billionaires and is often seen in shirts with the print “tax the rich”.
The clip went viral and was seen by almost 4 million people and thousands of people commented, most of them highly critical of Aubry, calling her out for hypocrisy and living a lavish lifestyle while claiming to fight for the downtrodden.
Aubry later said on X that it was a rented small sailboat, not a luxury yacht, costing around €70 per person per day, for a family weekend for her father’s birthday.
A separate video later showed her in Brussels being driven in a luxury car with a chauffeur and a diplomatic license plate.
Viewers noted that she didn’t bother to lower the handle of her suitcase and just rolled it at her driver without ever looking him in the eyes.
“The worst part is, you can tell she’s used to doing this. No, really, the ‘friends of the people’ aren’t what they used to be”, right-wing activist Alice Cordier noted.
Critics highlighted the contrast with her campaign videos, in which she is often filmed riding a bicycle to portray herself as an ordinary citizen close to the people.
Again, accusations of champagne Socialism or “gauche caviar” were popping up.
La com de Manon Aubry VS La réalité
Sur TikTok, Manon Aubry transporte sa valise bleue sur un vélo en libre service.
Dans la réalité, l’eurodéputée LFI roule en berline diplomatique et traite le chauffeur comme un vulgaire domestique. La valise bleue lui est remise avec mépris. pic.twitter.com/J0L73kwCtn
— ᵖᵃʳᵒᵈⁱᵉ Kim Jong Un (@KimJongUnique) July 1, 2026
Aubry attributed the attacks to the far right. She described the controversy as being relayed by “la fachosphère” (far-right circles) and said she had been filmed without her knowledge.
In response to the backlash, she wrote: “When I denounce luxury yachts, the idiot looks at the sailboat”, contrasting the non polluting sailboat with the polluting boats of billionaires registered in tax havens.
“Just because one doesn’t fully suffer from an inequality doesn’t mean one can’t denounce it.”
Right-wing opposition leader Jordan Bardella came to her help, saying that attacks on the private life of politicians were out of bounds, but added “that’s precisely what LFI does all day long with its opponents.”
One commentator on X published a detailed breakdown of Aubry’s declared income and background as an MEP, estimating her cumulative net earnings over five years at more than €555,000 and contrasting this with her public positioning.
Her path includes Sciences Po Paris (the French elite’s school, where she was student vice-president on the board of directors), guest studies in Sydney and then at Columbia in New York, work at NGO’s — including Oxfam— lecturing at Sciences Po, and then the European Parliament.
She has never had a private-sector paycheck.
“She’s been promising for 7 years to halve elected officials‘ allowances. No measure passed. She still takes the full amount.”
It was also noted she has a high income, guaranteed, indexed, risk-free, funded by public money.
Many called out the hard-left LFI as a whole fore being “pseudo-revolutionaries”, howling against the system and elitism but milking the system for all it’s worth while moral posturing.
Elle lui balance sa valise.
Elle ne prend même pas la peine de baisser sa poignée.
Même pas un regard pour lui.Et le pire c’est que ça se voit qu’elle a l’habitude de faire ça.
Non vraiment les « amis du peuple » c’est plus ce que c’était. pic.twitter.com/W1cY6HxVMJ— Alice Cordier (@CordierAlice2) June 30, 2026
