Swiss public television excludes films with Gérard Depardieu from its programming

Swiss public television (RTS) announced on Sunday that it had decided to no longer broadcast films with Gérard Depardieu in a leading role on its channel.

Swiss public television (RTS) has excluded from its programming films in which Gérard Depardieu plays “one of the main roles”, after the broadcast in France of a shocking TV documentary, a spokesperson said on Sunday.

“Since the latest revelations about Gérard Depardieu, RTS has avoided offering films in which he plays one of the main roles. One or two films were thus put aside during this holiday season“, Marco Ferrara told AFP, confirming information from the Swiss weekly Matin Dimanche.

“Pragmatic choice”

“When we feel that the majority of the public may feel offended by a work or personality that was previously accepted, we occasionally exclude it from our programming.“, explained the RTS spokesperson.

Sacred monster of French cinema, Gérard Depardieu has been in turmoil since the broadcast at the beginning of December of a report from the news program Additional Investigation on the public channel France 2, in which we see him multiplying misogynistic insults, his remarks of a sexual nature not sparing a little girl.

The report also returned to his indictment for rape in 2020, following a complaint from an actress in her twenties, Charlotte Arnould. He refutes these accusations. Depardieu, 75, is also the target of a complaint for sexual assault filed by the French actress Hélène Darras for facts a priori prescribed, as well as another in Spain by a journalist, Ruth Baza, accusing him of rape in 1995.

The decision to suspend the broadcast on RTS of films in which the French actor plays one of the main roles is “a pragmatic choice, which we will re-examine depending on developments in the situation, without a timetable fixed in advance and in compliance with legal procedure“, said Mr. Ferrara.

Public opinion

“As a public service media, we must ensure that we remain apart from the parties involved and not pass judgment: we limit ourselves to acting in the service of the public interest, which also includes its appetite or, on the contrary, his rejection of a work“, he said.

“Beyond this qualitative assessment“, added the RTS spokesperson, “we recently organized a public vote for the Christmas film and, among the options was a work with Gérard Depardieu, which the public itself decided not to choose, although the current context concerning the actor was known“.