A “disciplinary procedure” will be initiated by the Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honor against the actor Gérard Depardieu, targeted by two complaints for rape and sexual assault, announced the Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak on Friday . To which the actor’s lawyers responded that he was placing his Legion of Honor “at the disposal” of the Minister of Culture.
“A Legion of Honor distinguishes a man, an artist, an attitude, values,” Rima Abdul Malak declared on France 5 on Friday. It turns out that I spoke with the Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor, General Lecointre: a council of the order of the Legion of Honor will meet and will initiate a disciplinary procedure to decide whether this Legion of honor must be suspended or not, withdrawn completely or not. It will be up to them to decide.”
“Obviously, Gérard Depardieu will be able to provide contradictory elements” during this procedure “but I understand that it can be done. It is important to open this question,” added the minister, who however refused any form of “cancel culture” against the cinematographic works in which the actor, aged 74, appears.
“I think we must continue to see the films in which Gérard Depardieu starred, we are not going to stop watching his films. On the other hand, I don’t believe that today anyone wants to have an evening tribute or celebration to Gérard Depardieu. We are not going to remove his films from our heritage, not at all!”, said Rima Abdul Malak. Gérard Depardieu received the Legion of Honor from French President Jacques Chirac in 1996.
Also read “Want to vomit”: the cinema and audiovisual industry distances itself from Gérard Depardieu
Traveling to Moissac (Tarn-et-Garonne) with government spokesperson Olivier Véran earlier in the day, the minister declared that the actor’s comments and attitude during a trip to North Korea in 2018 were “shame on France”. In these images shot five years ago and revealed in a report by Complément d’investigation broadcast on France 2 at the beginning of December, the sacred monster of French cinema multiplied the misogynistic and insulting remarks while addressing women, not sparing a little girl for his obscene remarks.
Gérard Depardieu has also been indicted since 2020 for rape, following a complaint from an actress, Charlotte Arnould. Concomitantly with the broadcast of Complément d’investigation, a second complaint for sexual assault was filed by the actress Hélène Darras, for facts a priori prescribed, dating back to 2007 on a set. Gérard Depardieu denies these accusations.
