Sexism scandal - "Disgrace for France" - Actor Depardieu threatened with expulsion from the French Legion of Honor
A committee of the Order of the Legion of Honor will decide in disciplinary proceedings whether Depardieu's membership will be suspended or revoked completely, said France's Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak on Friday on the France 5 television station. The minister described the actor's behaviour towards women as a "disgrace for France".
Admission to the Legion of Honor is the highest distinction awarded in France. Depardieu was inducted into the Legion of Honor in 1996 by then President Jacques Chirac. The Code of the Legion of Honor stipulates that "conduct contrary to honour" can be punished with a reprimand, suspension of membership or expulsion.
France's Culture Minister is "disgusted" by Gérard Depardieu's behavior
Culture Minister Abdul Malak said she was "disgusted" by Depardieu's disrespectful and sexist treatment of women in a documentary recently broadcast by France 2. In the documentary, the actor can be seen making numerous vulgar comments to his young female translator during a filming trip to North Korea. "I weigh 124 kilos, with an erection 126", he says, for example. About a ten-year-old girl on a horse, he says: "When she gallops, she has an orgasm."
Last week, actress Hélène Darras accused Depardieu of sexual assault during filming in 2007. The actress Charlotte Arnould had already accused him of rape in 2018. Depardieu denies all accusations. Arnould had sex with him voluntarily, he explained. More than twelve other women have accused Depardieu of sexual assault in the media, but have not yet pressed charges.
"In the French cinema world, Gérard Depardieu's problematic behavior was well known," said the head of the producers' union, Marc Missionnier, in the documentary.
Depardieu worked with the most famous directors and actresses in France and has more than 200 films to his name. In them, he played the eloquent Cyrano de Bergerac as well as a washed-up pop singer, a slaughterhouse worker or an Alzheimer's patient.
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Source: www.stern.de
