“His words and attitudes do not correspond” to the values ​​of the Legion of Honor, explains the Minister of Culture

A “disciplinary procedure” will be initiated with a view to possible withdrawal of the Legion of Honor from the actor, Rima Abdul Malak announced the day before

“Words and attitudes” by Gérard Depardieu, seen in the show “Additional investigation” on France 2 “do not correspond to what we can understand about the nobility of individual actions” and therefore the values ​​of the Legion of Honor, explains Saturday December 16 to franceinfo the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak. Friday, on France 5, the minister announced that a disciplinary procedure will be initiated by the Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honor against the actor targeted by two complaints for rape and sexual assault. Earlier in the day, Rima Abdul Malak had estimated that Gérard Depardieu “puts France to shame”.

franceinfo: What signal is sent by the opening of this disciplinary procedure ?

Rima Abdul Malak: The Legion of Honor is still the highest French distinction. It values ​​the nobility of individual actions or journeys, which allows us to outline the contours of collective greatness. This is the vocation of the Legion of Honor. The words, the attitudes that we could see in “Additional investigation” and its images in North Korea, do not correspond to what we can hear about the nobility of individual actions. These words must be distinguished from actions. There are complaints of rape and there, it is up to the courts to decide, but the Council of the order will sort things out. Normally, exclusion from the Legion of Honor must go hand in hand with conviction by the courts.

Why initiate this procedure when for the moment Gérard Depardieu is presumed innocent ?

He is obviously presumed innocent, and the presumption of innocence is an absolutely fundamental principle in our democracy, but the Legion of Honor has several degrees of reactions to attitudes contrary to honor. It is not only court convictions that are taken into account. There are also a certain number of attitudes, acts or comments which can be considered contrary to honor.

Do you see in this approach a sign of support for women in the world of cinema? ?

For me, this is the very principle of human dignity. It’s up to us to mobilize. MeToo started with the world of cinema. We must continue, with all those involved in the cinema sector, the fight against the scourge of violence and sexual harassment. On filming, I decided to condition the aid from the National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC) on training in the fight against sexual and gender-based violence so that, in our actions, we act, so that these extremely provocative and vulgar remarks from Gérard Depardieu do not become a banality and [n’incitent pas] to reproduce acts of violence on set. This is what must be avoided in the future.