Bad publicity stunt for one of the estate’s pundits. Christophe Coffre, creative director of Havas Paris, was laid off by the subsidiary of Vivendi this Tuesday, following the publication of an accusation evoking a sexual assault, according to an internal e-mail consulted by AFP. Targeted for several weeks by a series of anonymous testimonies published on the Instagram account « Balance ton Agency » (BTA), who denounce in particular acts of harassment, he had put himself at the beginning of May “withdrawn” from the agency of communicationone of the largest in the sector in France, as well as the CEO Julien Carette, the time of an audit by an outside firm.
In this message sent Tuesday followingnoon to the employees of the agency, the management of the Havas group indicates that it has “decided to suspend it, with immediate effect”, following having learned of “an allegation ofsexual assault regarding him. “The group specifies that it has never been aware, at any time whatsoever, of facts of this nature” before, and that it “immediately reported them to the ASW firm appointed on May 4”, according to this document.
Havas caught up by the MeToo wave
According to this new testimony published on Monday, a former “creative” says “having postponed for several years the sexual harassment, morale and the violent assaults” of the leader, “to the point that we fought physically” in his office. “He threatened to destroy my budding career and that I would never be able to work in this environment once more if I did not give in,” she continues.
Caught up by the wave MeToo, the famous Havas Paris agency had confirmed in early May the “withdrawal” from their functions of its two co-presidents, who nevertheless continued to work for their clients. The layoff of Christophe Coffre means this time the suspension of the employment contract and the remuneration.