Justin Trudeau calls Gilles Duceppe 'my love' in French debate, tongue slip goes viral
A comedic slip of the tongue — which saw Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau accidently call Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe "mon amour" — stole the imagination of the internet during Friday's French-language leaders' debate.
Trudeau meant to call the Bloc leader "my friend" — "mon ami" — but ended up telling Duceppe that he was his love. The slip-up happened during sparring between the two leaders who were debating anti-terrorism Bill C-51.
Trudeau immediately caught his mistake, stammered and laughed it off, but the internet was quick to jump on the error.
It was only a short time before #monamour was trending across the country
Initially, Duceppe seemed a little stunned by the slip-up
The unique split-screen format of the debate allowed viewers to see Duceppe's immediate reaction to Trudeau's words. Many chose to capture the moment through the magic of a screen shot and share it widely on social media.
It prompted some users to dream up a love story between the two leaders
There were jokes, fresh takes on playground songs and even some hastily made fan art chronicling the exchange.
At least one user was convinced that Trudeau's 'love' went beyond Duceppe ...
... while others thought the slip-up worked in the Liberal leader's favour
At the debate's end, Trudeau even took to Twitter to squash any rumours
He cheekily referenced the incident, telling his wife Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau not to worry and that she is his love.
It wasn't the only slip-up of the night, with Duceppe mistaking central banker Mark Carney for dead actor Art Carney
Earlier in the evening, the mix-up roles were reversed.
It was Trudeau who corrected Duceppe after he kept referring to Mark Carney, the former governor of the bank of Canada, now governor of the Bank of England, as Art Carney, the deceased American actor famous for his role as Ed Norton on The Honeymooners.
That mess-up also got Twitter thinking wishfully.
One TV host combined the two, summing up all the debate gaffes in one Twitter photo
