In February 2021, the first complaint filed by novelist Florence Porcel against journalist Patrick Poivre d’Arvor opened Pandora’s box. Since then, a total of 16 women who claim to be victims of sexual abuse have been identified. Among them: journalist Stéphanie Khayat. She is one of those who agreed to testify openly, speaking in Release in November 2021. From now on, it is in SHE let her express herself, furious to see that PPDA continues to have its entrances here and there in Tout-Paris.
While Florence Porcel’s complaint had initiated a first wave of contrasting reactions, between shocking revelations about the alleged behavior of Patrick Poivre d’Arvor with women and testimonies of support from a small handful of TF1 stars, the multiplication of presumed victims over the months had the effect of reversing the trend on public opinion. “It took a long time but the front page and the Libé file changed everything. Public opinion has finally considered that we can tell the truth. But, contrary to what some say, PPDA has not at all become a pariah in the small Parisian milieu.“, tackle Stéphanie Khayat. A reaction to a recent paper by Paris Match which took stock of the current life of the ex-presenter of the JT, part of the contracts of which has been canceled and which has all the same been disinvited from a slew of events.
Exasperated to see him live as if nothing had happened, while casting opprobrium on the complainants through the legal process, Stéphanie Khayat adds: “He continues to be invited to literary awardswe saw him at the Comédie-Française recently, he appears publicly with his new girlfriend, without any embarrassment, on the terraces of cafes. One of his friends, a publicist, wrote on social networks, to accompany a photo of her and him at Lipp’s: ‘Mort aux connes!’. She was speaking to us. There is even talk of a book he is about to release. In short, we continue to take full the mouth.“
Never mind, Stéphanie Khayat wants to go to the end and hopes that other women will speak, including those who may have suffered acts not yet prescribed by law. “But the day when a victim will have the courage to tell facts not prescribed, and that we will finally manage to bring the proof, for him, it will be the prison“, she says.
PPDA remains presumed innocent of the charges until the final judgment of this case.