While the actor is indicted for rape and sexual assault, a column, signed by around fifty artists, defends Gérard Depardieu. The artists denounce the “ lynching » suffered by the one they describe as “ sacred monster of cinema » since the broadcast of an investigation on France 2.
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The director Bertrand Blier, the actors Jacques Weber, Pierre Richard or Charlotte Rampling, the Academician Jean-Marie Rouart or even the singers Carla Bruni, Roberto Alagna and Jacques Dutronc: all denounce a “ lynching » of which, in their eyes, Gérard Depardieu has been a victim since the broadcast on December 7 of a report from Complément d’investigation on France 2. Twenty days ago, the broadcast of the documentary showing him making obscene and misogynistic remarks during A trip to North Korea in 2018 caused shock waves. THE ” sacred monster of cinema » Frenchman, already accused of rape by two complainants, fell from his pedestal.
This Tuesday, December 26, without a word for the victims who accuse him of rape or the women we see in the report, his supporters rush to his aid by means of a column published in the columns of Le Figaro. The signatories, who are all on average well over 60 years old, defend the actor and choke up: “ When we attack Gérard Depardieu in this way, it is art that we attack. The rest concerns justice. »
Already last week, the actress Carole Bouquet, who was his companion for ten years, came to his aid on the set of the show Quotidien. “ Indeed he is capable of being rude, of having an extraordinary sense of humorrecognized the 66-year-old actress, but he is incapable of harming a woman. Let’s let justice decide whether or not he raped a woman, and let’s stop this excitement, this delight that the media have around Gérard Depardieu! “.
Read alsoFrance: Gérard Depardieu indicted for rape and sexual assault
Support from Emmanuel Macron
This forum from personalities from the world of culture follows another strong support: that of the President of the Republic. Last Wednesday, guest on the show C à vous on France 5, Emmanuel Macron disavowed his Minister of Culture Rima Abdul-Malak, who was questioning his Legion of Honor: “ I am a great admirer of Gérard Depardieusolemnly affirmed Emmanuel Macron. He is an immense actor, he has delivered the most beautiful texts. He made France, its great authors, its most beautiful texts known throughout the world. And I say it as President of the Republic and as a citizen, he makes France proud. »
In this program, Emmanuel Macron went so far as to question the reliability and probity of the journalists from the France 2 program who used the images of the actor’s trip, where we see him sexualizing a ten-year-old girl . So much so that, an extremely rare occurrence in the world of journalism where the secrecy of sources is a cardinal virtue, the Complément d’investigation team commissioned a bailiff to certify that no dishonest montage has been made.
Read alsoFrance: the wax statue of actor Gérard Depardieu removed from the Grévin museum
A ” spit in the face of victims of violence »
Feminist associations have criticized Emmanuel Macron’s support for a man accused of rape and currently under investigation. “ It’s a spit in the face of victims of violence », reacted to the AFP the Nous Tous collective, while a third woman, the Spanish journalist Ruth Baza, recently filed a complaint in her country against the actor whom she accuses of having raped her in 1995.
“ It is a forum which is very educational because it clearly shows how an entourage will organize itself and use arguments of authority to protect someone who behaves in a way that is not acceptable. », Declares to RFI the president of the Women’s Foundation, Anne-Cécile Mailfert, at the microphone of Amélie Courtet. “ This is how we protect people and organize their impunity, by saying that they are so great that they are ultimately above the law. »
In this column, they say that attacking him is attacking art. Would condemning Gérard Depardieu mean condemning art in some way?
The president of the Women’s Foundation reacts to the platform in support of Gérard Depardieu