Macron sparks anger with praise for rape-accused Depardieu
CHAUVINIST CULTURE CLAIMS RAPE IS SEDUCTION
Thu, 21 December 2023
Emmanuel Macron's comments were made in a wide-ranging interview for France 5 broadcaster - LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP
Emmanuel Macron has said he is a “great admirer” of Gérard Depardieu, the French actor accused of rape and sexual assault, as he refused to take part in a “manhunt” against the scandal-plagued star.
The French president praised the 74-year-old as a film icon and someone who makes the country “proud”.
He added that he had no plans to strip Depardieu of the Legion of Honour, France’s highest order of merit.
Mr Macron’s remarks sparked immediate outrage among feminists and opposition politicians, one of whom accused the president of being the “promoter in chief of rape culture”.
“You will never see me participate in a manhunt,” Mr Macron told the France 5 broadcaster when asked about rescinding Depardieu’s honour.
“I hate that kind of thing,” he said during a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday night, adding that “you don’t strip someone of a Legion of Honour based on a report”.
The award, which the star of Green Card and Cyrano de Bergerac received in 1996, “is not a moral tool”, said Mr Macron, adding that he was “a great admirer of Gérard Depardieu ... an immense actor”.
“He has made France’s great authors, our great characters known throughout the world ... he makes France proud,” he added.
Gerard Depardieu denies the accusations against him - VALERY HACHE/AFP
Mr Macron’s comments were in stark contrast to those by Rima Abdul Malak, the culture minister, who last week said the actor “shamed France” after footage emerged of him making lewd and sexist comments.
She said that the grand chancery of the Legion of Honour would initiate a “disciplinary procedure” to decide whether to strip him of the award.
The controversy has reignited soul-searching in French cinema over its alleged tolerance of abusive and sexist behaviour.
In the interview, Mr Macron said: “You can accuse someone, there may be victims, but there is also a presumption of innocence.
“I simply want Gérard Depardieu to be able to defend his rights like everyone else… to continue to work and create,” he added.
Broadcaster France 2 aired a documentary earlier this month which showed the actor on a 2018 trip to North Korea, during which he repeatedly made explicit sexual comments in the presence of a female interpreter and sexualised a 10-year-old girl while she was riding a horse.
Depardieu, an actor with more than 200 films to his name, was charged with rape in 2020 and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women.
He has strenuously denied all of the allegations.
A torrent of outrage
Mr Macron’s comments unleashed a torrent of outrage.
Sophie Bussiere, a spokeswoman for the Greens, issued a social media post depicting the president as “promoter in chief of rape culture”.
François Hollande, France’s former Socialist president, said: “We’re not proud of Gérard Depardieu.
“It was expected of the president to talk about women, not just that Gérard Depardieu was a great actor,” he added.
“[Macron] has dubbed [women’s rights] the most important issue of his five-year term, and this is how he is dealing with the Gérard Depardieu question.”
Anne-Cecile Mailfert, the president of the Women’s Foundation, said: “When the president says ‘I won’t take part in a manhunt’, he is judging the women who have filed complaints or who have given evidence by saying that they are the ones whose stance is reprehensible.
“This is extremely serious. Emmanuel Macron has a voice that carries weight, and this has real consequences for women’s lives,” she added.
Since the documentary aired Depardieu’s family has denounced an “unprecedented conspiracy” against him.
Depardieu himself addressed the rape and sexual assault allegations in an open letter published in Le Figaro in October.
“Never, ever have I abused a woman,” the actor wrote. “To the media court, to the lynching that has been reserved for me, I have only my word to defend myself.”
Over the weekend, a Belgian municipality stripped Depardieu of the title of honorary citizen, several days after the Canadian province of Quebec revoked its top honour over his “scandalous” comments about women.
But Depardieu’s family has argued his treatment amounts to a lynching.
“Of course, we are often shocked by Gérard’s comments, but our father/grandfather/uncle is being the target of an unprecedented conspiracy,” several relatives, including his daughter, actress Julie Depardieu, said in a letter published in French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
Deploring “this terrifying collective insanity”, they said that “in private, with his children, he is an extremely modest, delicate and even prudish person.”
Meanwhile, Paris’s Grevin Museum has withdrawn a life-size waxwork of Depardieu, which had been on display at the wax museum since 1981.
The statue was removed “following the negative reactions of visitors” passing in front of it, as well as comments “on social media”, it said.
Macron under fire for remarks defending film icon Depardieu
Jurgen HECKER
Thu, 21 December 2023
Depardieu received the Legion d'Honneur in 1996 (Vincent AMALVY)
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday faced accusations of siding with sexual aggressors after saying film icon Gerard Depardieu, charged with rape and facing a litany of sexual assault claims, was the target of "a manhunt".
Depardieu, 74, who has made more than 200 films and TV series, was charged with rape in 2020 and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women.
He currently faces fresh scrutiny over sexist comments caught on camera during a trip to North Korea in 2018 that were broadcast for the first time in a documentary on national television earlier this month.
Asked in a television interview on Wednesday whether Depardieu should be stripped of France's highest state award, which he received nearly three decades ago, Macron said: "You will never see me take part in a manhunt. I hate that kind of thing.
"The presumption of innocence is part of our values."
Macron said he felt "huge admiration" for Depardieu, whom he called "an immense actor".
- 'Yawning abyss' -
But Generation.s Feministe, a feminist collective, said Macron's comments were "an insult" to all women who had suffered sexual violence, "first and foremost those who accused Depardieu".
The president's remarks were "not just scandalous but also dangerous", Maelle Noir of the Nous Toutes association told AFP, because the statements of victims were "disbelieved, and trampled on, with impunity".
"Between us and the president, there is not just a gap but a yawning abyss," she said.
Sandrine Rousseau, a Green party MP, said "Macron has picked his side -- that of the aggressors".
Anne-Cecile Mailfert, who heads association the Women's Foundation, added: "A single tweet is not enough to say how disgraceful and despicable this is towards the victims, and how behind the times."
- 'Not proud' -
France 2 television channel showed the actor on his 2018 trip to North Korea repeatedly making explicit sexual comments in the presence of a female interpreter and sexualising a small girl riding a horse.
Former president Francois Hollande told the France Inter broadcaster on Thursday he was "not proud of Gerard Depardieu" after seeing the footage.
Some voices, including cinema veterans who worked closely with him in the 1970s and 1980s, have defended the actor.
"I support Gerard, we must remain loyal to the people we love," said Fanny Ardant, a 74-year-old actor who won fame for her role opposite Depardieu in "The Woman Next Door", directed by Francois Truffaut. "What is happening is a death warrant," she told the RTL broadcaster.
Last week, French Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak said the actor's behaviour shamed France, noting that he might be stripped of the Legion d'Honneur, the country's top award he received in 1996.
But in the interview on Wednesday, Macron said the minister may have "gone out on a limb" with her remarks.
"Sometimes people get carried away," he said.
"We don't take the Legion d'Honneur away from an artist on the basis of a TV report or whatever else, because if we started doing that, we'd have to take the Legion d'Honneur away from a lot of artists," he said.
The Legion of Honour "is not there to impose moral standards" on the recipient, Macron said.
But the left-leaning Liberation newspaper said it had been Macron who "not only went out on a limb himself but sank into indecency".
- 'Pathetic' -
Depardieu has created a number of scandals over the years, including by public brawling, drunk driving and urinating in the cabin of a commercial aircraft.
In 2012, he moved to Belgium to save on taxes, a decision the French prime minister at the time, Jean-Marc Ayrault labelled "pathetic".
In response to the gibe, Depardieu took Russian nationality the following year and has posted pictures of himself and President Vladimir Putin.
But last year, he denounced what he said were Putin's "crazy, unacceptable excesses" in the Ukraine war.
In 2017, Macron withdrew the Legion d'Honneur from Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein after a series of accusations of sexual harassment and rape.
Thu, 21 December 2023
Depardieu received the Legion d'Honneur in 1996 (Vincent AMALVY)
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday faced accusations of siding with sexual aggressors after saying film icon Gerard Depardieu, charged with rape and facing a litany of sexual assault claims, was the target of "a manhunt".
Depardieu, 74, who has made more than 200 films and TV series, was charged with rape in 2020 and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women.
He currently faces fresh scrutiny over sexist comments caught on camera during a trip to North Korea in 2018 that were broadcast for the first time in a documentary on national television earlier this month.
Asked in a television interview on Wednesday whether Depardieu should be stripped of France's highest state award, which he received nearly three decades ago, Macron said: "You will never see me take part in a manhunt. I hate that kind of thing.
"The presumption of innocence is part of our values."
Macron said he felt "huge admiration" for Depardieu, whom he called "an immense actor".
- 'Yawning abyss' -
But Generation.s Feministe, a feminist collective, said Macron's comments were "an insult" to all women who had suffered sexual violence, "first and foremost those who accused Depardieu".
The president's remarks were "not just scandalous but also dangerous", Maelle Noir of the Nous Toutes association told AFP, because the statements of victims were "disbelieved, and trampled on, with impunity".
"Between us and the president, there is not just a gap but a yawning abyss," she said.
Sandrine Rousseau, a Green party MP, said "Macron has picked his side -- that of the aggressors".
Anne-Cecile Mailfert, who heads association the Women's Foundation, added: "A single tweet is not enough to say how disgraceful and despicable this is towards the victims, and how behind the times."
- 'Not proud' -
France 2 television channel showed the actor on his 2018 trip to North Korea repeatedly making explicit sexual comments in the presence of a female interpreter and sexualising a small girl riding a horse.
Former president Francois Hollande told the France Inter broadcaster on Thursday he was "not proud of Gerard Depardieu" after seeing the footage.
Some voices, including cinema veterans who worked closely with him in the 1970s and 1980s, have defended the actor.
"I support Gerard, we must remain loyal to the people we love," said Fanny Ardant, a 74-year-old actor who won fame for her role opposite Depardieu in "The Woman Next Door", directed by Francois Truffaut. "What is happening is a death warrant," she told the RTL broadcaster.
Last week, French Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak said the actor's behaviour shamed France, noting that he might be stripped of the Legion d'Honneur, the country's top award he received in 1996.
But in the interview on Wednesday, Macron said the minister may have "gone out on a limb" with her remarks.
"Sometimes people get carried away," he said.
"We don't take the Legion d'Honneur away from an artist on the basis of a TV report or whatever else, because if we started doing that, we'd have to take the Legion d'Honneur away from a lot of artists," he said.
The Legion of Honour "is not there to impose moral standards" on the recipient, Macron said.
But the left-leaning Liberation newspaper said it had been Macron who "not only went out on a limb himself but sank into indecency".
- 'Pathetic' -
Depardieu has created a number of scandals over the years, including by public brawling, drunk driving and urinating in the cabin of a commercial aircraft.
In 2012, he moved to Belgium to save on taxes, a decision the French prime minister at the time, Jean-Marc Ayrault labelled "pathetic".
In response to the gibe, Depardieu took Russian nationality the following year and has posted pictures of himself and President Vladimir Putin.
But last year, he denounced what he said were Putin's "crazy, unacceptable excesses" in the Ukraine war.
In 2017, Macron withdrew the Legion d'Honneur from Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein after a series of accusations of sexual harassment and rape.
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