'The French culture minister said that Gerard Depardieu might be stripped of his Legion of Honour'
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Transcript
00:00 So Clovis, this is an open letter. Tell us about who signed it and what it says.
00:04 Yes, an open letter this morning in the newspaper Le Figaro, a well-respected
00:08 newspaper, including big names like actresses Nathalie Baye, Carole Bouquet,
00:12 Charlotte Rampling, singers Carla Bruni, Jacques Dutronc, many of them are
00:17 longtime friends of Gérard Depardieu. It's not the young generation of French
00:22 actors or French artists, it's more the old guard if I may, and all feel they
00:27 can't remain silent in the face of what they're calling a manhunt
00:32 targeting France's living legend, probably the most famous French actor
00:36 in the world, Gérard Depardieu. He's under formal investigation for two cases of
00:41 rape, alleged rape, back in 2020. He denies them and a recent documentary, you can
00:47 see the pictures behind me, are from the backstage of a documentary, the making
00:52 of a documentary in North Korea, where Gérard Depardieu makes very obscene
00:58 remarks, clear misogyny about women and young girls. So what does this open
01:03 letter actually say? Well it says that when you're targeting Depardieu, you're
01:08 attacking art and also that justice needs to be respected and that Depardieu
01:14 is innocent until proven guilty. The artists say yes, an investigation is
01:20 underway, but let's let the investigators do their work and let's
01:24 stop talking about Depardieu. These friends of his say that they're very
01:29 worried for him, that he's at an all-time low in his life. Some even saying that
01:34 they're worried for the life of Depardieu, that people are trying to
01:37 destroy him, trying to put him down. And these 50 artists or so, moreover,
01:45 say that Depardieu, well France owes a lot to Depardieu, that the French
01:50 actors helped his country shine around the world. He even received the Legion of
01:55 Honor for that and this is where it's getting a little political because a
02:00 week ago the French President Emmanuel Macron made some comments about Depardieu.
02:05 Let's take a listen to what Emmanuel Macron had to say.
02:11 The answer to the question of whether are we taking back the Legion of Honor given
02:14 to artists or other known figures who say things that shock me, that answer is
02:18 no. I'm telling you this right now because it isn't a moral reward and I
02:23 don't want it to become that. There's one thing you'll never see me do and that's
02:27 going on a manhunt. I hate that. Really interesting comments from Emmanuel
02:32 Macron saying he's a big fan of Dierodepardieu and what it does for France.
02:35 Just tell me what ripple effect that has had politically and societal too. Well in
02:40 that clip we saw a journalist only half convinced by what Emmanuel Macron was
02:43 saying and she's not only the only one here in France. You've got many feminist
02:47 groups, many people in general in France just saying that the French President
02:53 had no role here. He shouldn't have spoken out, he shouldn't have defended
02:58 the undefendable. That's what these groups are saying and what's interesting
03:03 also is that the Culture Minister here in France a few days before that
03:10 interview said that Dierodepardieu might be stripped of his Legion of Honor, that
03:14 the committee was looking into it. That infuriated the French President who
03:19 said that his Culture Minister spoke too soon and was wrong in doing that. Let's
03:25 also say that there have been many accusations of sexism, of misconduct, of
03:31 molesting, targeting Dierodepardieu on film sets throughout the years. Many
03:36 voices being heard increasingly also about Dierodepardieu and some also
03:42 saying that the world of cinema has been turning a blind eye and not just men,
03:47 women also, allowing Dierodepardieu to make sexist remarks for making women
03:53 feel uncomfortable on film sets. Dierodepardieu's waxworks now been removed from the
03:59 Museum Grévin which is the equivalent of the Madame Tussauds here in France. He's
04:05 also been stripped of his title of honorary citizen in Belgium, a similar
04:11 title also in Quebec. So clearly the Dierodepardieu scandal is going beyond the French
04:18 borders. Will it be the French Harvey Weinstein scandal? We'll have to wait and
04:23 see but clearly an all-time low for Dierodepardieu, accused of many sexist
04:30 remarks, also under formal investigation for two cases of rape, difficult time
04:35 for Dierodepardieu and some of his friends trying to defend him.
04:38 Clovis, it's really interesting what you've just said when you talk about this
04:42 basically unity of a number of well-known celebrities, people like
04:45 Charlotte Rampling, Carla Bruni, the singer as well, saying that they stand
04:49 behind him. Let's wait to see, this is a lynching they say. You talk about the
04:53 effect, which I didn't know to his health as well, that those around him say
04:56 actually he's contemplated potentially suicide but we haven't heard from him
05:00 in recent weeks. No, he did take to the newspapers and try to give an interview,
05:06 try to explain himself years back when there are other accusations flowing and
05:11 he said that he was no rapist, that he was no predator, that that was just his
05:16 personality to joke around, to make obviously obscene remarks and Gare-Bouki,
05:22 his former partner, huge actress here in France, also defending him, also saying
05:27 that that was just his personality, his friends were telling him off for doing
05:31 that. These are very different cases, there's a difference between accusations
05:35 of rape and just bad jokes. Jardin de Pardieu caught in a storm
05:43 very clearly. Will it be the next Weinstein? We don't really know.
05:47 Jardin de Pardieu's family also speaking out, saying that Jardin de Pardieu is in a
05:52 very difficult moral state. Jardin de Pardieu is a controversial figure, he's been
05:58 accused of being a friend of Putin in the past, going to Russia several times,
06:04 being shown on Russian TV with Putin. He tried to defend him at some point
06:11 over the war in Ukraine. Jardin de Pardieu also accused of not paying his tax in the
06:16 past, going to Belgium, so no stranger to controversy but this is of a very
06:21 different nature. Jardin de Pardieu, we haven't heard from him yet but he's a
06:28 troubled soul. I'm not going to try to defend him here. His son died a few years
06:33 ago and it does seem that he was never the same again. Jardin de Pardieu,
06:38 obviously in a very difficult situation and that's why his friends are trying to