Jean-Marc Morandini was not done with justice. This Monday, October 24, 2022, the presenter of Cnews had to go to the Paris Criminal Court as part of the charges of “corruption of minors” which have weighed on him since 2016. AFP has unveiled the report of this appearance.
Thus do we learn thata one-year suspended prison sentence was requested against Jean-Marc Morandini for exchanging sexual messages with two teenagers and pushing a third minor to undress during a casting. Tried for “corruption of minors”, the 57-year-old man did “rock life” of “these children“and no evidence today”of no awareness“, estimated the prosecutor Aurélien Brouillet, also claiming that he submits to a duty of care.
During the hearing, Jean-Marc Morandini had to justify the explicitly sexual content sent to two 15-year-old teenagers and return to the casting at his home in 2009 during which he allegedly asked a 16-year-old to undress and to masturbate. Faced with these accusations, he pleaded in turn the “clumsiness“, “humor” Where “recklessness“. “We are in the virtual, for me there is no desire to meet“, he assured before challenging any”special attraction“for minors.
Very explicit conversations with minors
The court first looked at the messages he exchanged in 2013 with Romuald (first name changed). A young man who was a fan of his when he was still working for NRJ12. He contacted him on Twitter after attending one of his shows. And very quickly, Jean-Marc Morandini directed the conversation towards the sexual practices of the teenager, by asking in particular if he had erections. Messages read to the audience. The host then assumed this “seduction game” and these “very open exchanges because sexuality is not taboo“. He affirms that he was unaware of the young age of his interlocutor even if the president of the court read a message in which Romuald interrupted a conversation because his “mother must make him recite his (lesson) history“. And he explained that when he learned his age, he stopped “immediately“any communication with him.
Jean-Marc Morandini, however, admitted that he knew the age of Simon (first name changed), the other 15-year-old with whom he chatted on Twitter in 2015-2016 and whom he asked for months, in vain, to send him a photo of him naked. “We were in humor“, tried the defendant at the bar. President Alice Perego then reminded him of the age of the young man. “That doesn’t stop you from having a sense of humor“, replied the accused. The plaintiff, he had a completely different memory: “At no time was it humor. I asked him to stop.” And added that he was, however, reluctant to stop the exchanges with the host of which he was “very fond of“.”I wanted to work in the media, it was the only door I had to be able to attend a program“, he continued, adding to be still today “under medication to be able to sleep normally“.
A “traumatized” plaintiff
Then came the case of Clément (first name changed) who in 2009, while he was registered on a casting site, received a message from a certain Claire. A nickname behind which hid Jean-Marc Morandini. He was dangled for a role in a remake of Ken Park, a film that features very raw sexual relations between teenagers. He ended up going to the home of the presenter who would have made him watch very explicit passages of the film and would have led him to strip naked in front of his lens in order for him to masturbate. A request refused by the 16-year-old teenager. “It traumatized me“, he confided. Jean-Marc Morandini claimed to have kept no memory of this episode and disputed the facts.
One of the civil parties then revealed that other aspiring actors participated in this casting – a “fortnight“, admitted Jean-Marc Morandini – for a film that never saw the light of day. “If they wanted to masturbate, they could do it. I don’t think it’s illegal,” retorted the accused. And the president responded. “It’s not illegal for adults.“, replies the president.