2023-12-17 09:46:55
Yesterday, a Belgian municipality stripped French film legend Gérard Depardieu of his honorary citizen title due to sexist comments shown in a French documentary earlier this month.
Depardieu (74 years old) was accused of rape in 2020, and also faced 13 charges of harassment or assault, all of which the actor denies.
A documentary titled “The Fall of the Ghoul,” broadcast by the French public channel France 2 on December 7, showed clips of the actor during a 2018 trip to North Korea.
The documentary shows Depardieu making repeated comments containing explicit sexual insinuations in the presence of a female translator, and his suggestions, which were shown in the documentary, also affected a young girl riding a horse.
The actor’s lawyers criticized the documentary in a statement yesterday, saying that it was a “controversial and questionable program that broadcasts a group of images taken in the intimate and private sphere.”
But the Belgian municipality of Esteembouie announced that it had revoked the title granted to Depardieu when he lived there in 2013.
Local authorities stated that the actor’s comments broadcast on television “contrary to the values promoted by the municipality of Istimbwe.”
The Belgian decision comes the day following the French Minister of Culture condemned Depardieu’s behavior.
Rima Abdel Malik said that “disciplinary action” had been taken to determine whether he would be stripped of the country’s highest award, the Legion of Honour.
The French film star’s lawyer told Agence France-Presse that he had placed the Legion of Honor award he received at the minister’s disposal.
However, the lawyers, Beatrice Guisman-Achille and Christian Saint-Palais, noted in a statement that a similar move might deal “another blow to the already moribund principle of the presumption of innocence.”
The two lawyers also wondered whether part of Rima Abdel Malik’s role was to participate “with great momentum in the persecution process” and the “media execution” to which they say their client is being subjected.
The actor, whose film record includes more than 200 roles, denied any wrongdoing.
In the face of the growing controversy in France, Belgian media reported that Depardieu returned to live in Belgium in a village near the French border.
Depardieu’s move to Belgium in 2012 was heavily criticized in his homeland as it was seen as a way to evade the French tax system.
Last Wednesday, the Canadian province of Quebec stripped Depardieu of his highest honor because of his “scandalous” statements once morest women in a France 2 report.
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