After Pénélope McQuade, it’s Julie Snyder’s turn to defend herself in Gilbert Rozon’s $450,000 defamation lawsuit, accusing him of wanting to publicly humiliate and gag her.
• Read also: Pursued by Rozon, Pénélope McQuade counter-attacks
“Adding insult to injury, [Rozon] abounds in sophisms that are widely condemned today, notably wanting that if the denunciation was not immediate, it must be false,” deplores Mr.me Snyder in his written defense filed in court this week at the Montreal courthouse.
Just like host Penelope McQuade a few days earlier, Mme Snyder strongly denies defaming the fallen comedy mogul during a 2019 show of The 4 Julies Week.
During an unscripted interview with her guest Pénélope McQuade, she then claimed that Rozon had sexually assaulted her in an apartment in Paris in the 90s. While she slept in her pajamas, Rozon would have entered her bed, naked, with the aim of raping her.
“He had a crazy, unrecognizable look,” she said in the court document.
Mme Snyder would have fled on foot, to the Champs-Élysées, to then take refuge in the apartment of friends.
“She would never tell the plaintiff regarding this traumatic assault, although she would recommend that he ‘seek treatment’ a few years later, the court document states.
Reputation
Insisting that the remarks during the show were “legitimate, truthful, nuanced and in the public interest”, lawyers for Mme Snyder then proceeded to recall that in 2019 it was reasonable to conclude that Rozon already had a reputation as a “sexual predator”.
Recalling one by one all the events that have tarnished his image since the first public denunciations once morest him, ranging from a class action to a criminal charge where he was later acquitted due to reasonable doubt, the lawyers deny that Mr.me Snyder is said to have tarnished Rozon’s already shattered reputation.
No withdrawal
These lawyers also accuse the founder of Just for Laughs of having wanted to humiliate Mme Snyder, demanding a retraction where both Mme McQuade that Mme Snyder is expected to say publicly that “Gilbert Rozon never sexually assaulted us or inappropriate behavior or conduct.”
“He not only tries to gag them, but also tries to seize their freedom of speech with the aim of forcing them to publicly betray their testimony”, deplore the lawyers, who recall that Ms. Snyder had already expressed herself publicly. in this case, without the threat of being sued.
The production company La Lune inc., also sued by Rozon, also rejects any fault, and denounces the fact that, according to Rozon, it should have censored the two animators.
