The consequences have been piling up for the French actor since the broadcast of his shocking remarks in “Complément d’investigation”. This Monday, December 18, the famous Parisian museum announced that it would store its statue, like Palmade and Poutine before him.
The wax statue of Gérard Depardieu no longer blended into the decor. Because of “negative reactions from visitors” passing in front of the effigy of the French actor, the Grévin museum decided to remove it this Monday, December 18. If the actor has been indicted since 2020 for rape and sexual assault, it was the recent broadcast of a report on the actor, in the program “Complément d’investigation”, which ignited the powder, also after a second complaint against him. And it was in the face of numerous criticisms, particularly on social networks, that the “Wax Pantheon of Celebrities” ended up giving in.
The statue of Depardieu thus joins those of Pierre Palmade and Vladimir Putin in the Parisian institution’s presentation. They were removed respectively last February after causing a serious road accident, and in March 2022 after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, also following discontent from visitors.
The Libération investigation
Created in 1882, the Grévin museum welcomes 800,000 visitors per year, most often families with children. The wax statues of 250 historical and contemporary personalities are presented there. Gérard Depardieu inaugurated his double in 1981.
But the images broadcast on France 2 in the magazine “Complément d’investigation” shocked many spectators. The actor, on a trip to North Korea in 2018, made several insulting remarks with sexual connotations, addressed in particular to a girl of around ten years old. And the backlash is finally being felt: many producers say they no longer want to work with the actor, Quebec and Belgium have withdrawn distinctions from him and the French Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, announced the launch of a “disciplinary procedure” by the Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honor which could cause him to lose the charm.
In reaction to this explosion, the family of Gérard Depardieu (in particular his daughter Julie Depardieu and his ex-wife Elisabeth Depardieu), denounced Sunday in the Bollorean JDD a “unprecedented cabal” After “a monstrous manipulation”, deploring a “collective rage” against the actor.