He had already been given a one-year suspended sentence for “corruption of minors” in December. Television host Jean-Marc Morandini, 57, will return to court on Tuesday to be tried, this time, for “sexual harassment” against a young actor.
His production company, “Don’t zap! production” (NZPP) whose host is the only manager is being prosecuted for the “hidden work” of five plaintiffs. The trial before the Paris court is scheduled for two days.
Behind Catherine Leclerc, Jean-Marc Morandini
The case for which the host of Cnews (Bolloré group) must be judged concerns the filming, between June and September 2015, of a web-series entitled The Falcons of which Jean-Marc Morandini was the producer.
The host would have encouraged young actors, aged 19 to 26 at the time, to show themselves naked for the castings of this series. A pseudo “casting director”, Catherine Leclerc – in reality Jean-Marc Morandini under a pseudonym – had sent them emails insistently asking them to send videos of them naked, with their pubes shaved and scenes of masturbation sometimes with cumshots.
During an audition in September 2021, the host explained that he did not want his name to appear in the series and had “imagined a virtual character, Catherine Leclerc, by randomly recovering a photo from the Internet of a 40-year-old woman.
“I will obey what you order me”
According to the investigators, the “totally fictitious character” of Catherine Leclerc, constituted a “maternal and reassuring figure inspiring confidence” in particular in the youngest of the complainants, an actor without an agent, without training and without experience of the cinema world, encouraging him “to always pushing the limits in the act of a sexual nature, under the alleged pretext of working on one’s posture as an actor”.
This young actor, aged 18-19 at the time of the events, had notably received in August 2015 two emails from “Catherine” signed “mom” asking him if he was ready to perform oral sex on Jean-Marc Morandini “who is not anyone”.
The young man, anxious not to miss out on the opportunity to become an actor, replied: “It is obvious that I am not going to be difficult about nudity (…) I will obey what you order me” .
The host had refined the character of “Catherine” going so far as to evoke elements of fictional life, a married woman with a son, during email exchanges with the young actor.
Jean-Marc Morandini had also admitted during one of his hearings “having taken photographs of certain naked candidates in his office in order to find out if they were comfortable”.
“Sexual harassment”… and “hidden work”
The Paris public prosecutor’s office had initially closed its investigation into this case in December 2016. The complainants had obtained, in 2018, the resumption of the investigations by an investigating judge who had finally decided to dismiss the case. in court.
The charge of sexual harassment was held against Jean-Marc Morandini to the detriment of the only young actor.
Concerning this young actor and four other plaintiffs, justice also retained the offense of concealed work by dissimulation of employee, the actors not having been declared near the social organizations as of the first day of turning.
The edition of payslips and the transmission of pay checks to the various actors was implemented “well after” the actual filming at a time “when complaints had already been initiated”, noted the investigators.
Last December, the host was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence with a two-year care obligation and his registration in the file of perpetrators of sexual or violent offenses (Fijais) for acts of “corruption of minors” committed against three teenagers between 2009 and 2016, during electronic exchanges of a sexual nature and during a casting call at his home.
He appealed against this conviction.