Around fifty personalities from the world of culture, including Carole Bouquet, Pierre Richard, Nathalie Baye, Gérard Darmon, Carla Bruni and Jacques Dutronc, signed a column in support of Gérard Depardieu, published Tuesday December 26 in Le Figaro.
RTL was able to get Gérard Depardieu on the phone, the latter did not want the exchange to be recorded. He nevertheless reacted for the first time to the support stand. “I think it’s very courageous on the part of the signatories,” he said. Even if he is not at the origin of this forum, LThe actor is very happy to see this column published. Yannis, an author and friend of his daughter, is at the origin. It is very well written according to Gérard Depardieu who does not go into details, does not emphasize a particular point.
“We can no longer remain silent in the face of the lynching that has befallen him, in the face of the torrent of hatred that is pouring down on his person, without nuance, in the most complete amalgam and in contempt of a presumption of innocence which he would have benefited, like everyone else, if he were not the giant of cinema that he is,” they write in this column.
I was presented with this letter… I thought it was beautiful
Gérard Depardieu on RTL
Gérard Depardieu did not wish to react to this sentence. He only wants to point out that he didn’t ask anyone for anything: “I was presented with this letter… I thought it was beautiful and so I told its author that he could publish it,” he explains.
The actor insisted several times on the phone: he did not call anyone, did not ask for help from any of these artists, on the other hand, he wanted to underline “the courage” of the signatories. He then conceded that he suspected that some might have been reluctant to sign it. He added that many refused, but did not say how many and again: he did not ask anyone for help.
Gérard Depardieu is accused of rape, two complaints are in progress and he has been indicted since 2020. He is also criticized for his repeated excesses, shown in particular by the magazine Additional Investigationbroadcast on France 2.
A “terrifying” forum according to feminist associations
This platform brought out several associations of elected feminist activists such as Paris councilor and environmentalist Raphaëlle Rémy-Leleu.
“Can you imagine how terrifying that must be for alleged victims?, victims of men all across the country? We are saying text: the fight against sexist and sexual violence, be careful with powerful men, it will always be less important than their reputation and their career. This is extremely serious“, she denounces.
“It’s a backlash which is terrifying because it is very clearly assumed. There, it is no longer a question of saying, we must separate the man from the artist. This forum is saying: art, the artist excuses everything“, adds the elected official at Paris town hall.
The work of Gérard Depardieu “we don’t touch it”, insists one of the instigators of the platform
One of the instigators of this forum, the actor Yannis Ezziadi also spoke on RTL. He explains that this forum was created after an exchange with the actor and director, Michel Fau, with whom he works.
The two men agreed “not to let Gérard Depardieu, who is still the last great artist, be lynched in defiance of the presumption of innocence”, he says. “We, the artists, need to step up to the plate because if it’s not the artists who step up to defend the greatest among us, who will do it?” adds the actor.
He assures that this forum was not ordered by those close to Gérard Depardieu: “A large part of the signatories are not friends of Gérard Depardieu and do not even know him”. “The idea was that artists would sign a petition in the name of art to say that justice“, it’s one thing and art is something else, even if Gérard Depardieu is condemned, his work, we don’t touch it”, insists Yannis Ezziadi.
The statue of Gérard Depardieu has been removed from the route at the Grévin museum on December 18, and the actor was also removed from the National Order of Quebec as well as his title of honorary citizen of the commune of Estaimpuis (Belgium).