A comment that Hailey Bieber made about her husband while on French TV felt so painfully American that people are While on the French talk show Quotidien, that Justin Bieber is French. If you weren’t aware, Justin is Canadian. He grew up in Stratford, Ontario. He has French-Canadian ancestry, which is probably why Hailey asserted that he’s French.
While on the show, Hailey spoke highly of France.
And when listing the things she admires about the country, she mentioned that her husband is French. Host Yann Barthès looked surprised by this assertion. But when questioned about it, Hailey simply doubled down.
Describing what she likes about France, she said, “I love the fashion in Paris. I feel like there’s such a good energy to this city. France is a beautiful country.”
Then, she mentioned Justin, adding, “My husband is French, so I love that as well!” The host’s facial expression said it all; he was clearly perplexed and even asked for clarification.
Hailey reiterated, “He is French, yes.” But the host did not seem convinced and asked whether Justin was Canadian. Hailey then explained, “He is from Canada, but he’s also French.”
People online find the interaction pretty cringe-worthy.
Lots of people pointed out that only Americans would say something like this. Additionally, they pointed out that Hailey was given multiple opportunities to clarify that her husband has French ancestry, but instead continued to insist that he is French.
“Should have said: ‘some French ancestry,’” one person wrote on . “We Americans routinely sound like idiots to the rest of the world.”
The general consensus online was that Justin is decidedly not French. “I have genuine French Canadian heritage AND I’m from the exact same part of Ontario as JB…” someone else wrote. “you don’t hear me out here calling myself Acadian 
girl NO he’s not lol wtf he’s from Stratford.”
“It’s the American thing of saying ‘I’m Irish’ because your 5th great grandmother is Irish,” someone else explained.
It’s the fact that Hailey said this in France that really stood out to a lot of people.
Because Hailey is far from the only American who would make this kind of claim—but the context left people feeling extra embarrassed for her. “Saying this while in FRANCE is so embarrassing,” one person wrote. “It’s like the most American thing an American could say while abroad,” another commenter responded.
“He’s only french in the (American) mind because he’s got long ago french ancestry but no one else would consider him french, ever, it’s crazy to come and say that on a french show,” someone on X wrote.
At the same time, some people defended Hailey. Perhaps the way she worded it wasn’t perfect, but they could understand what she meant. “All the outrage about this is so clowny and ignorant,” a commenter wrote in Hailey’s defense. “She’s not claiming her husband is literally from the country of France. She knows he was born in Canada. She’s just saying he has French ancestry.”