“We are going to tell the Americans who have chosen to side with tyrants, those Americans who fire researchers for exercising scientific freedom: ‘Give us back the Statue of Liberty!” Raphaël Glucksmann said. “We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently, you despise it.”

A French politician has called on the US to give the Statue of Liberty back after suggesting that some Americans “have chosen to switch to the side of the tyrants.”

The White House responded by saying that “it's only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now.”