This measure is the result of an external audit launched by Havas, a subsidiary of Vivendi, after the publication of anonymous testimonies on an Instagram account.
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The creative director of Havas Paris, one of the largest French communication agencies, was laid off on Tuesday May 17 by the Havas group, a subsidiary of Vivendi, after the publication of an accusation evoking a sexual assault, according to an internal email seen by AFP.
Christophe Coffre had been targeted for several weeks by a series of anonymous testimonies, published on the Instagram account “Balance your Agency”, denouncing acts of harassment. He started at the beginning of May “withdrawn”as well as the CEO of the agency, Julien Carette, the time of an audit by an external firm.
In a message sent Tuesday afternoon to the agency’s employees, the management of the Havas group indicated that it had “decided his interim layoff, with immediate effect”after knowing “an allegation of sexual assault” concerning him. “The group specifies that it has never had knowledge, at any time whatsoever, of facts of such a nature” before, and have them “immediately reported to the ASW firm appointed on May 4th”according to this document.
According to this testimony, a former “creative” recount “having repelled sexual and moral harassment and violent assaults for several years” of the leader, “to the point that we fought physically” in his office. “He threatened to destroy my fledgling career and that I would never be able to work in this industry again if I did not give in”she continues.