Benjamin Griveaux withdraws from Paris mayoral race due to sex scandal

(Patria) – French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn is the new candidate for Macron's La Republique En Marche (LREM) party for the mayor of Paris after Benjamin Griveaux had to withdraw from the race due to an explicit video posted online.

A pornographic video featuring the now former mayoral candidate appeared online on Thursday, after which Griveaux officially withdrew from the race the very next day.

The blog post containing the incriminating video clips is attributed to the controversial Russian artist Piotr Pavlenski; he received the clips from a woman to whom the candidate Griveaux had sent them. Social media platforms were flooded with the controversial clips on Thursday evening and Friday morning, until the official withdrawal of the candidacy due to 'vile attacks', as Griveaux called them.

- Social media have published vile attacks on me and my privacy. Our project for Paris, which my team and I built and fought for, will live on without me, stated the would-be mayor Benjamin Griveaux, adding that the withdrawal was a difficult decision for him, but he did not want to expose his family and himself to risk.