French President Emmanuel Macron has said film icon Gérard Depardieu, accused of rape, has become the target of a “manhunt”, as the actor faces fresh scrutiny over sexist comments.
“You will never see me participate in a manhunt,” Macron told the France 5 broadcaster when asked about possibly stripping the actor of a state award. “I hate that kind of thing,” he said, adding that “you don’t strip someone of a Legion of Honour based on a report”.
The award, the most prestigious the government can award and which Depardieu received in 1996, “is not a moral tool”, Macron said, adding that the actor “makes France proud” and that he himself was a “great admirer” of his.
Last week, culture minister Rima Abdul Malak said the actor’s comments shamed France, and that the Grand Chancery of the Legion of Honour would initiate a “disciplinary procedure” to decide whether to strip him of the award.
A television report released this month that included footage of him making sexist comments, has thrown the allegations back in the limelight and reignited a debate about sexism in French cinema.
Broadcaster France 2 showed the actor on a 2018 trip to North Korea repeatedly making explicit sexual comments in the presence of a female interpreter and sexualising a small girl riding a horse.
Since the documentary aired his family has denounced an “unprecedented conspiracy” against him.
Depardieu, an icon of French cinema with more than 200 films to his name, was charged with rape in 2020 and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women.
Depardieu denied allegations of rape and sexual assault in an open letter published in Le Figaro in October. “Never, ever have I abused a woman,” the actor wrote. “To the media court, to the lynching that has been reserved for me, I have only my word to defend myself.”
Over the weekend, a Belgian municipality stripped Depardieu of the title of honorary citizen, several days after the Canadian province of Quebec revoked its top honour over his “scandalous” comments against women.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said film icon Gérard Depardieu, accused of rape, has become the target of a “manhunt”, as the actor faces fresh scrutiny over sexist comments.
“You will never see me participate in a manhunt,” Macron told the France 5 broadcaster when asked about possibly stripping the actor of a state award. “I hate that kind of thing,” he said, adding that “you don’t strip someone of a Legion of Honour based on a report”.
The award, the most prestigious the government can award and which Depardieu received in 1996, “is not a moral tool”, Macron said, adding that the actor “makes France proud” and that he himself was a “great admirer” of his.
Last week, culture minister Rima Abdul Malak said the actor’s comments shamed France, and that the Grand Chancery of the Legion of Honour would initiate a “disciplinary procedure” to decide whether to strip him of the award.
A television report released this month that included footage of him making sexist comments, has thrown the allegations back in the limelight and reignited a debate about sexism in French cinema.
Broadcaster France 2 showed the actor on a 2018 trip to North Korea repeatedly making explicit sexual comments in the presence of a female interpreter and sexualising a small girl riding a horse.
Since the documentary aired his family has denounced an “unprecedented conspiracy” against him.
Depardieu, an icon of French cinema with more than 200 films to his name, was charged with rape in 2020 and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women.
Depardieu denied allegations of rape and sexual assault in an open letter published in Le Figaro in October. “Never, ever have I abused a woman,” the actor wrote. “To the media court, to the lynching that has been reserved for me, I have only my word to defend myself.”
Over the weekend, a Belgian municipality stripped Depardieu of the title of honorary citizen, several days after the Canadian province of Quebec revoked its top honour over his “scandalous” comments against women.