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Actor Depardieu (2017): "Shame on France"

Photo: Tiziana Fabi / AFP

After lawsuits of rape and sexual violence, French actor Gérard Depardieu is threatened with expulsion from the Legion of Honor. A panel of the Order of the Legion of Honour will decide in disciplinary proceedings whether Depardieu's membership will be suspended or completely revoked, France's Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak said on France 5 television on Friday. The minister described the actor's behaviour towards women as a "disgrace for France".

Admission to the Legion of Honour is the highest award given in France. Depardieu was made a member of the Legion of Honour by then-President Jacques Chirac in 1996. The Code of the Legion of Honour stipulates that "conduct contrary to honour" can be punished with a reprimand, suspension of membership or expulsion.

Culture Minister Abdul Malak said she was "disgusted" by Depardieu's disrespectful and sexist treatment of women, referring to a recent documentary broadcast by France 2. In the documentary, the actor can be seen making numerous vulgar comments about his young translator during a filming trip in North Korea. "I weigh 124 kilos, with an erection 126," he says, for example. About a ten-year-old girl on a horse says: "When she gallops, she gets an orgasm."

Depardieu denies the allegations

Last week, actress Hélène Darras had denounced the actor for sexual assault during filming in 2007. Actress Charlotte Arnould had already reported Depardieu for rape in 2018. He denies all allegations. Arnould had voluntarily had sex with him, he explained. More than <> other women accused Depardieu of sexual assault in the media, but have not yet filed a complaint.

"In the French cinema world, the problematic behaviour of Gérard Depardieu was well known," said the head of the producers' union, Marc Missionnier, in the documentary.

Depardieu has worked with France's best-known directors and actresses and has more than 200 films to his credit. One of his best-known roles is that of Obelix in the film adaptations of the »Asterix« comics. He also played the eloquent Cyrano de Bergerac as well as a worn-out pop singer, a slaughterhouse worker and an Alzheimer's patient.

has/AFP