Washington, D.C.
France’s ambassador in Washington, Jean-David Levitte, traveled the U.S. this week to ask Americans to stop mocking the French. “It’s not funny,” he said. Tensions between the two countries have run high since France tried to block the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Some Americans are boycotting French wines, cheeses, and other products, and menus in some parts of the country now feature “freedom fries.” As part of its campaign to ratchet down the rhetoric, the French tourism office hired filmmaker Woody Allen to plead France’s case in a television ad. “I don’t want to freedom kiss my wife,” Allen says in the ad. “I want to French kiss her.” Levitte complained that Americans were behaving in a “petty” and “racist” manner. “Please,” he said, “French fries are French fries.”
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