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In a notable turn of events, French President Emmanuel Macron has defended the acclaimed actor Gérard Depardieu, following a controversial television documentary. This stance, conflicting with the Culture Minister’s view and involving the Legion of Honor, underscores the complex relationship between politics, media and celebrity in France.
French President Emmanuel Macron defended cinema star Gérard Depardieu on Wednesday, denouncing a “manhunt” following the broadcast of a shocking television documentary about the actor, of whom he described himself as “a great admirer.” Macron contradicted Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak, who announced on Friday that a “disciplinary procedure” would be initiated by the Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honor against the actor. Depardieu is targeted by two complaints in France for rape and sexual assault and has been indicted in one of the cases. The actor refutes these accusations.
“There is something you will never see me in, and that’s manhunts. I hate them,” the head of state responded on the France5 television channel. The President of the Republic said he was “a great admirer of Gérard Depardieu (…) a huge actor.”
“He has made France known, our great authors, our great characters throughout the world (…) he makes France proud,” continued Macron.
In the same show, “C à vous,” Abdul Malak had estimated on Friday that the actor’s comments reported in the “Complément d’enquête” report “shamed France.” In these images, broadcast on France 2 in early December, the French cinema giant, known for having played Commissioner Maigret as well as Cyrano, multiplies misogynistic and insulting remarks while addressing women, including a young girl.
Yet, Macron said on Wednesday that Abdul Malak had “gone ahead” in speaking of a procedure that could remove the Legion of Honor from the actor. “There are sometimes overreactions to statements made. I am wary of the context,” he insisted. “I understand that there have been controversies over parts of the report,” he specified, echoing the arguments put forth by the members of the Depardieu family in a column in Le Journal du Dimanche.
These family members, including actress Julie Depardieu, denounced the report, alleging a “cabal” and pointing out “staging” and “suspicious” cutaways.
President Macron added that the Legion of Honor, which was awarded to the actor in 1996 by Jacques Chirac “is a distinction that should not be used to impose moral judgments.” “And so it is not based on a report or anything of the sort that we remove the Legion of Honor from an artist because at that rate, we would have removed the Legion of Honor from many artists,” the head of state further emphasized.
And to conclude, “You can accuse someone, there may be victims, but there is also a presumption of innocence that exists,” fearing otherwise to fall into “the era of suspicion.”
Olivier Faure, the leader of the Socialist Party, immediately criticized these remarks on his social networks, “Violence against women [is the] great cause of the five-year term… This president does not believe in anything he defends…”
“The words of Macron about Depardieu are once again an insult to the movement to free the speech of victims of sexual violence,” green MP Sandrine Rousseau said on her social networks.
For her part, Sophie Bussière, the spokesperson for the Ecologists, described the President of the Republic as a “chief promoter of a culture of rape.”
With AFP
