Dozens of French actors denounce 'lynching' of Gerard Depardieu
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Transcript
00:00 Let's bring in our international affairs editor Philip Tull. Philip for those trying to get a sense of what's happened here
00:06 talk us through the the events including the president weigh in on this.
00:10 So Gérard Depardieu is one of the best-known French actors around the world.
00:14 He's done in dozens of films since the 1970s and has really seen as being an icon as far as French cinema is concerned.
00:22 Basically if a film has Depardieu in it, then the film is going to be a success at the box office and he's become
00:29 well known as an icon of French cinema right away around the world.
00:34 So these allegations which have come forward have seriously undermined the image of Gérard Depardieu here in France.
00:42 A reminder there are three women who have said that they were sexually molested by him.
00:47 One of them has accused him of rape.
00:49 The most recent accusation started earlier this month by a Spanish actress
00:57 who said that she was sexually molested by Gérard Depardieu back in 1995.
01:03 This is all under investigation by the French judicial authorities.
01:08 Now on top of that just earlier this month on the 7th of December France 2, France Télévision,
01:13 the French state television network showed a documentary called the complementary inquiry
01:20 into Gérard Depardieu which carried those remarks that you were talking about which were filmed in North Korea
01:26 at a stud farm where a little girl was riding on a horse and Gérard Depardieu was quite obscene
01:34 in the comments that he made about the little girl and about his feelings towards women.
01:39 And that has led to a backlash against him in France and then a signing of this
01:44 tribunal in Le Figaro which was published last night.
01:49 The French newspaper Le Figaro signed by about 50 personalities backing Gérard Depardieu
01:53 saying that he is being lynched in public ahead of any investigation into whether he is guilty or innocent.
02:00 You have as you just mentioned a large group, feminist movement, a lot of people saying hang on
02:07 a minute look at the femicide rate in France here, a lot of crimes going unpunished and pointing
02:12 fingers to say this is wrong it should be looked at. You have on the other side of this, this group
02:17 of celebrities saying this man hasn't done anything he's alleged to have, we wait to see him
02:22 whether or not he's tried for it and yet the president's got involved too, this is a divisive issue.
02:28 Well I think this was an occasion where President Macron really should not have got involved in this
02:31 because he has given his backing to Gérard Depardieu. He appeared on French television last week
02:36 and said that he was willing to back the actor and saying that he was a salesman for France
02:43 overseas, he was an icon and that he was an ambassador for the country and that he had the
02:49 right to the presumption of innocence which is correct but it's not really the position of the
02:52 French president to come out in support of someone in case that support then crumbles if the person
02:58 is found guilty if they are brought to trial. So that has inflamed the debate here in France and
03:04 you're quite right people in the feminist movement have said look there's no reason why Gérard Depardieu
03:08 should receive a different sort of treatment to anybody else who's accused of rape or sexual
03:14 impropriety and this is split public opinion in France especially when the figures show that
03:22 many women who have been raped or suffering from sexual impropriety from people go to the police
03:30 and in many cases their claims are thrown out. 74% of claims don't go any further than just the
03:37 initial notification of the police and only one woman out of 10 according to the figures actually
03:41 does go to the police to report sexual crimes. So I think there's a general worry in France that
03:46 Gérard Depardieu is such an icon he should be someone who is responsible. Okay he's going to
03:52 be tried. On the one hand you have these 50 personalities who are backing him saying he
03:56 deserves the right to innocence until the trial but others are saying well look seeing these results
04:01 and these comments that we've seen on French television this is totally unacceptable and
04:05 therefore he needs to be criticized straight away.