A week after the revelations, the controversy around Gérard Depardieu has not deflated, quite the contrary. This Friday, December 15, the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, was the guest on the set of Anne-Élisabeth Lemoine and her team in C to youwhere she was questioned about her comments earlier in the day, stating that Gérard Depardieu “puts France to shame”. An assertion that she did not reiterate, but which she confirmed in the France 5 program: “I am outraged” she first declared before detailing the measures taken to combat these acts, before continuing: “These comments that we saw on the set in Korea are very clearly sexual harassment. So we have to know how to react face to face. […] if he or others behave like this, or if there are more serious acts, I heard testimonies of hands on the buttocks, hands in shorts, those are sexual assaults“ declared the minister with a special link with a famous singer.
Also questioned about the decision taken in Quebec to withdraw an honorary title, the Minister of Culture confirmed thata similar decision was considered in Franceconcerning the Legion of Honor received by the actor from the hands of Jacques Chirac in 1996: “A Legion of Honor distinguishes a man, an artist, and an attitude, values, it’s all that at the same time a Legion of Honor […] a Council of the Order of the Legion of Honor will meet and initiate disciplinary proceedings to decide whether this Legion of Honor should be suspended or not, withdrawn completely or notit will be up to them to decide.” she clarified, adding that the interpreter of Obélix or even Cyrano de Bergerac, who has taken refuge in another country since the start of this controversy, “may provide contradictory elements”. A procedure whose development will inevitably be closely monitored.
💬 “It disgusted me”
Rima Abdul Malak judges that Gérard Depardieu’s “absolutely shocking comments” “put France to shame” pic.twitter.com/ZvCTPUZDTu
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) December 15, 2023
⋙ PHOTOS – Who are the ministers of the Borne III government?
Gérard Depardieu affair: divisions are forming in the artistic world
Since this affair broke out, many personalities have wanted to contribute their voices. Among them, people who wanted condemn the actions of the actorlike Tristane Banon, shocked by the revelations and the behavior of the actor and not understanding the defense chosen by his lawyers, others, like Nathalie Baye, who are remained speechless at this facet of the artist, which they claimed not to know. Examples which suggest the future polarization of opinions on this scandal and a potential future clash between two camps in the artistic world.
Photo credits: Screen capture / France 5