(Paris) The spokesperson for the French government said Thursday he was “shocked” by misogynistic and insulting remarks towards women made by Gérard Depardieu, a position which contrasts with that of President Emmanuel Macron, who is complimentary towards the actor charged with rape and sexual assault.
“These comments shock me and I have a thought for the people who felt offended, who are victims,” declared spokesperson Olivier Véran on the BFMTV channel and RMC radio.
“I am shocked by the comments I saw, which I find null,” but “it is up to justice to define things,” he added, regarding the actor’s statements broadcast in a report from the France 2 channel show Further investigation.
President Emmanuel Macron supported Gérard Depardieu at the end of December, saying that he was a “huge actor” who “makes France proud” and denouncing “a manhunt”.
The Head of State also considered that the Legion of Honor, the most prestigious French decoration, was an Order which is “not there to preach morality”, while his Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak had announced a few days earlier that a “disciplinary procedure” would be initiated by the Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honor. The minister judged that Gérard Depardieu’s remarks were “shameful to France”.
In a letter dated December 22 revealed by the newspaper The Parisian and of which AFP was aware, the Grand Chancellery confirmed to the actor’s lawyer that this disciplinary procedure had been opened.
Olivier Véran also noted that “when the courts are seized, it is up to them to decide, not to you and not to me. We are not a people’s court.”
PHOTO LUDOVIC MARIN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Olivier Véran
Gérard Depardieu, now 75 years old, has been indicted since 2020 for rape, after a complaint from a French actress, Charlotte Arnould, accusations which he refutes.
Concomitantly with the broadcast of the report, a second complaint for sexual assault was filed by the actress Hélène Darras, for facts a priori prescribed, dating back to 2007 on a shoot. The actor also denies these accusations.
The Depardieu affair has generated countless reactions.
A column calling for “not to erase” the icon of French cinema, published on Christmas Day in the newspaper Le Figaroat the initiative of an actor described in a daily investigation The world as “close to identity and reactionary spheres”, in return gave rise to several “counter-tribunes”, including one signed by some 8,000 artists.
Several signatories of the first forum have since distanced themselves, including the actresses Carole Bouquet (former companion of the actor) and Nadine Trintignant and the actor Gérard Darmon.
In the images of the report, Gérard Depardieu, known for having played Cyrano de Bergerac or Danton, multiplies the misogynistic and insulting remarks while addressing women, not sparing a little girl with remarks of a sexual nature.
The France Télévisions group assured that this last passage had been “authenticated” by a bailiff, after the head of state had suggested that the sequence could have been modified during editing, as the family had previously claimed of the actor.
Since the scandal, Gérard Depardieu has been removed from the National Order of Quebec and his title of honorary citizen of the commune of Estaimpuis (Belgium), while his wax statue has been removed from the visiting route of the famous Grévin museum in Paris.