France's President & Rome's Mayor Are Beefing Over Emily In Paris
Oh, Emily, you've done it again.
Emily Cooper has a knack for causing chaos, but now she’s doing it on a geopolitical scale. Turns out, a key element of the upcoming season of Emily in Paris has two European politicians in a bit of a skirmish. Here’s why a fictional PR girlie’s big move has France’s president and Rome’s mayor exchanging insults.
At the end of Emily in Paris Season 4, Emily made the shocking decision to move to Rome and pursue a relationship with her new love interest Marcello. When the series was renewed for Season 5 in mid-September, Netflix heavily implied the bulk of the upcoming season would be set in Rome.
The setting change isn’t sitting well with France’s president Emmanuel Macron, whose wife Brigitte made a cameo appearance in the latest season. “We will fight hard. And we will ask them to remain in Paris!” Macron told Variety on Oct. 9. “Emily in Paris in Rome doesn‘t make sense.”
Things got heated when Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri noticed Macron’s remarks. “Doesn’t President Macron have more pressing matters to worry about?” Gaultieri told The Hollywood Reporter that same day. “I would like to believe, at least I would like to hope, that Macron was joking, because he ought to know that a production company like Netflix does not take orders from heads of state or make decisions based on political pressure.”
Gualtieri went on to celebrate the decision for the series to move production to his city, and advised Macron to ease up a bit. “We see Emily’s move to Rome as a confirmation that our city is becoming more and more important, and we are quite relaxed about Netflix production decisions,” Gualtieri said. “They know what they are doing. To be honest, we think Mr. Macron should just relax.”
So, it sounds like Emily has a couple more men to worry about when the show returns for Season 5. Her influence sure has grown since she first moved to Paris!
