Fifty-six French stars, together with Carla Bruni, Charlotte Rampling and Carole Bouquet, signed an open letter defending Gerard Depardieu, the Oscar-nominated actor who has been charged with rape and accused by greater than a dozen different ladies of sexual assault, harassment or groping.
The essay, printed within the conservative-leaning French newspaper Le Figaro, reads, partly: “We can’t stay silent within the face of the lynching focusing on him, the torrent of hate being dumped on his character” (by way of AP). “When Gerard Depardieu is focused this fashion, it’s the artwork [of cinema] that’s being attacked. … Depriving ourselves of this immense actor can be a drama, a defeat. The loss of life of the artwork. Our artwork.”
Different signatories included actors Pierre Richard, Victoria Abril and Nathalie Baye, and administrators Bertrand Blier and Francis Veber.
Depardieu has not been convicted in reference to any of the allegations and denies wrongdoing. He referred to as the open letter “lovely” and its signatories “brave,” France 24 experiences.
Depardieu, the 74-year-old star of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” “The Man within the Iron Masks” and greater than 200 different movies and tv sequence, was indicted in 2020 on rape costs related to a 2018 lawsuit filed by actor Charlotte Arnould. One 12 months after his indictment, Depardieu appeared in a movie that opened Cannes’ Critics Week, “Robuste,” directed by Constance Meyer. When over a dozen extra alleged victims spoke out as a part of an investigative piece from Mediapart in April 2023, Depardieu’s popularity lastly took successful. In December, the French actor Hélène Darras filed a police criticism alleging Depardieu sexually assaulted her in 2007 whereas filming the film “Disco.”
On Dec. 7, France Televisions aired a bombshell documentary detailing Depardieu’s historical past of sexual abuse allegations. The broadcaster’s head of movie and worldwide co-production, Manuel Alduy, instructed Selection the TV group doesn’t have any agenda towards Depardieu, nevertheless, and gained’t boycott his movies: “We is not going to ban movies, however we gained’t have fun artists who’ve been accused till they’re utterly cleared.”
French President Emmanuel Macron stepped in controversy later in December when he mentioned on tv, “I’m a giant admirer of Gerard Depardieu.”
Macron continued, “He’s an immense actor, who has delivered among the most lovely texts. He made France identified, our best authors, our best characters, internationally. I’ll say it as France’s president but additionally as a citizen, he makes France proud.”
In France Televisions’ documentary about Depardieu, the actor is seen making crude, sexual and misogynistic jokes, together with one referring to a toddler using a pony. In his remarks, Macron instructed that the section may need been edited in a deceptive method. Per AP, France Televisions later mentioned that the section was authenticated by a bailiff who seen uncooked footage.
