2023-06-12 15:15:00
“For reasons beyond our control, the performances of June 11 at the Carré des Docks in Le Havre and June 14 at the Phare de Chambéry are cancelled. We sincerely regret these cancellations. “It is by this press release, relayed by the rooms, that the production Becker’s Prod informed the Norman and Savoyard spectators that Gérard Depardieu would not finally come to sing Barbara at home. Exit therefore the 8th and 9th dates out of the ten that included this umpteenth tour of the show that the actor has presented since 2017 in the company of Gérard Daguerre, recurring pianist of the “Lady in black”.
A rowdy tour since the spring and the publication of a long article by Mediapart detailing the repeated sexual violence of which the actor, also indicted for rape, is accused. In Toulouse, but also in Lille, where the start of the show was delayed, in Lyon once more, where the show was even interrupted for a few moments.
Almost every time, Depardieu is greeted by demonstrations of protest. Again this Saturday (June 10), at the Palais des Congrès in Tours, he was eagerly awaited by a collective of associations such as the Feminist Network of Indre-et-Loire and local political groups (communists, ecologists, NPA ).
“These radical feminists have the right to demonstrate. We and Gérard Depardieu have the right to play and work.
In Tours, tags implicating the actor or proclaiming “No to the culture of rape” had previously been inscribed on the facade and in the streets neighboring the theater. Between 60 and 80 people, very excited, thus gathered noisily, Saturday at the end of the followingnoon, in front of the Tours station, with the desire “to make the spectators think and, why not, to prevent the holding of the concert “, explained a feminist activist, white-hot. The slogan, viral, “Depardieu, the black eagle, it’s you!” was also chanted copiously, raising the pressure. In front of dumbfounded passers-by, a cordon of impassive police intervened at the entrance to the Palais des Congrès. This did not prevent insults and middle fingers from flying between the public and the demonstrators.
“The pressure from radical feminists and other disruptors has nothing to do with these two cancellations,” says David Becker, head of Becker’s Prod. “On these two dates, the overall cost, room, set, rentals, travel, was high. We had sold 1,300 tickets on the two dates. It still lacked a hundred places to be balanced. I preferred to cancel, ”he explains. A decision made “in order to respect the financial costs that I imposed on myself from the start. »
On the other hand, the actor and his pianist will perform well this Thursday, June 15 at the CEPAC Silo in Marseille, tenth and last date of the tour “which was artistically intense and humanly overwhelming, bringing together more than 8,000 spectators”, wishes to inform the producer. ” We are complete. There are only places with reduced visibility that we preferred to withdraw from sale, ”he specifies.
“Gérard is fine, I’m fine, the tour has not been cancelled, thank you,” Gérard Daguerre politely whispered to us on the phone when we called him on Sunday (June 11). The producer, he remained silent on Sunday, answering us this Monday, in writing. “My opinion as a citizen: I am shocked by the situation. The presumption of innocence is a right, not respecting it is a crime, he believes. Gérard Depardieu remains in the background so as not to interfere with the legal proceedings which are in progress. These radical feminists have the right to demonstrate. We and Gérard Depardieu have the right to play and work. »
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