TV host Jean-Marc Morandini pleaded Monday “clumsiness” or “humor” to try to justify the sexual messages exchanged with two teenagers, which earned him to appear in Paris for “corruption of minors”. Punctuated with smileys, “lol” and “mdr”, these messages were sent to 15-year-olds – Romuald* in 2013 and Simon in 2015-2016 – and consisted for one of evoking sexual scenarios and, for the second, to ask him, for several months, to send a photo of him naked.
The star host of CNews is also appearing in criminal court for having, in 2009, cast a young 16-year-old during which he allegedly asked him to strip naked and masturbate for the needs of the remake of a film . If he recognizes “clumsiness”, “missteps” and “recklessness”, Jean-Marc Morandini, 57, disputes any offense at the bar.
“It’s a valve that is heavy, but at no time is there any sexual intention”
Regarding the messages on masturbation exchanged with Romuald, then a fan of the host, the defendant defends exchanges “without taboo”. “These are very open exchanges because sexuality is not taboo,” he says. Above all, he affirms that he was unaware of the young age of his interlocutor, even if the president of the court reads a message in which Romuald interrupts a conversation because “his mother must make him recite his (lesson) history”.
Jean-Marc Morandini claims above all to have ceased all exchanges with him as soon as he learned his age. The host must, however, admit that he was informed of the minority of Simon, another plaintiff. For several months, the host will ask him in vain to send him a photo of him naked.
“We are in humor”, he tries to defend himself. “It’s a valve that is heavy, but at no time is there any sexual intention”. Coming to the bar, the plaintiff has a completely different memory. “At no time was it humor. I asked him to stop,” he said, explaining that he was reluctant, however, to stop talking with the host. “I wanted to work in the media, it was the only door I had to be able to attend a show,” he explains. He will end up sending a photo of a penis found on the internet to Jean-Marc Morandini, who will then cease his exchanges.
* names have been changed