Affected by allegations of domestic violence on social networks, the former participant of Occupation double and co-host of the popular podcast Sans Filtered, Pascal-Hugo Caron-Cantin, and his company Studio SF, sues for defamation his ex-wife the influencer Jessie Nadeau for $ 205,000.
Pascal-Hugo Caron-Cantin and Jessie Nadeau, better known as PH and Jessie, both appeared in the 2017 edition of the popular reality show. Their romantic relationship continued after the show and they also developed a professional relationship by launching the cookbook and frozen food brand Vegan, But Not Flat. The couple announced their separation two years later, in March 2020.
On December 17, in the wake of the trial of the ex-spouse of influencer Elisabeth Rioux, Jessie Nadeau published on her Instagram account followed by 176,000 as well as on Tik Tok and YouTube a video in which she talks about violence verbal, psychological and physical marital relationship that she would have experienced with her ex-partner, without ever naming him. “It seems like something happened all the time, but it was all my fault. […] You were terribly angry with me, you made me feel it, understand it, hear it, you were proud to tell everyone that you had not hit me, that you had not been physically violent. But you were physically violent. In domestic violence, there isn’t just physical violence, anyway. “
“At no time [M. Caron-Cantin] has demonstrated domestic violence. In fact, these remarks were made in the context of multiple denunciations on the part of [Mme Nadeau], and this, only to attract the attention of its audience and harm [PH] », We can read in the request filed this week.
Mr. Caron-Cantin says he has sent a formal notice for her to remove her video, retract and apologize, but to this day she is still present on the various platforms of Ms. Nadeau.
Co-host of the Without Filter podcast, the 31-year-old is followed by 109,000 Instagram subscribers. He claims that posting the video, viewed 110,000 times on YouTube, damaged his reputation.
Mr. Cantin-Caron and Ms. Nadeau declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Financial losses
Although he is not identified in the video, Mr. Cantin-Caron claims to have been forced to comment publicly on Jessie Nadeau’s allegations on social networks because he would have been questioned on social networks by subscribers to give his version facts. Sponsors have also reportedly suspended their partnership due to Ms. Nadeau’s allegations. He points out that Studio SF has lost its contract with Oxio, the main advertiser of its YouTube channel. Mr. Caron-Cantin is claiming an amount of $ 175,000 for the damages suffered in addition to $ 30,000 for Studio SF. He is also asking for a letter of withdrawal and apology to be posted by Jessie Nadeau on Instagram and Tik Tok.
Social media limits
The legal battle which awaits the ex-couple is emblematic of what awaits the influencers who use their platforms to denounce or testify to certain experiences according to the lawyer Rachel Chagnon.
Without commenting on the present case, she recalls that “defamation can also be true statements but made public for malicious reasons or which would not be of public interest”.
Become important places of denunciations, the professor of law at UQAM and researcher at the Institute of research and feminist studies, underlines that they have certain limits. “I have the impression that this is what we see [avec Mme Nadeau] this is what can await the little known whistleblowers […] People who denounce who have a certain social and economic capital are at risk of being sued, especially if they denounce other people who have this same capital ”“ Image is an important monetary measure today and it is became the main asset of several people […] “These people are better known than politicians in a generation” “.
Ms. Chagnon warns against the use of prejudice in this type of lawsuit. Pascal-Hugo notes in particular in his request that Jessie Nadeau had herself published a message in which she stressed that they were separating in respect. “I notice that several prejudices are used in the face of women victims of conjugal violence, whereas we know that for a victim it is not easy to cut ties with his partner,” she concludes.
Jessie Nadeau sues her ex-wife
In his lawsuit, Mr. Cantin-Caron alleges that he is not the only one to be targeted by the allegations of Jessie Nadeau. He makes particular mention of Marie Gagné, who was in a relationship with Ms. Nadeau in 2021. “ [Mme Nadeau] also reproached him for having made him fear for his safety and for having shown violence towards him, ”he said. Reached by phone, Marie Gagné confirmed having shared this information with him. However, she denies all the allegations contained in the libel suit filed against her by Jessie Nadeau in September 2021. Ms. Nadeau claims the sum of $ 21,827.97 from her, accusing her of spreading untruthful remarks about her “by discrediting in particular her history of domestic violence ”.
Ms. Nadeau also alleges having lost, because of her ex-spouse, the leading role in a feature film, Le purgatoire des intimes directed by Philippe Cormier in which we find Sonia Vachon, Mélissa Bédard, Brigitte Lafleur, Anne Casabonne and Normand D ‘Love.
On July 16, the day on which a provisional order enjoining Ms. Gagné to no longer communicate with Ms. Nadeau was granted by the judge in the case, the director announced to Ms. Nadeau that her contract was terminated. “A few days following the breakup of the parties, the plaintiff notes that the defendant publishes videos in the company of Mr. Cormier”, is it indicated in the lawsuit.