Step 1: An artist becomes the victim of sexual assault allegations.
Step 2: The President of the Republic defends the presumption of innocence of the artist in question.
Step 3: Feminists accuse the president of being a dirty “masculinist” who perpetuates “rape culture.”
• Also read: 'Dangerous' remarks: Macron's defense of Depardieu dismays feminists
• Also read: Macron denounces a “manhunt” against Depardieu
French President Emmanuel Macron simply recalled that Gérard Depardieu had not been accused (or found guilty) of rape by the French judiciary.
But in 2023, simply remembering the basic principles of the rule of law will bring you the worst slander. It really is a world turned upside down.
THE PEOPLE'S COURT
President Macron was asked about Gérard Depardieu on French television on Wednesday evening.
He replied: “You can blame someone, there may be victims, but there is also the presumption of innocence.” Otherwise, we will enter “the age of distrust,” he concluded.
Green MP Sandrine Rousseau said it was “an insult to the movement to release the voices of victims of sexual violence”.
Maëlle Noir, from the “Nous tous” collective, affirmed that “this sends a signal that we should continue not to believe the victims and trample on their words with complete impunity.”
The president of the women's foundation, Anne-Cécile Mailfert, said: “We are clearly in the culture of rape.”
But what do these feminists want? No more need for police investigations, no more need for “just and fair” trials, no more need for a “full defense”?
Wham! Boom! All it takes is for a woman to accuse a crime and we take her word for it and send the target man straight to prison?
Regarding the possible withdrawal of the Legion of Honor by Gérard Depardieu (whom we learned in a report likes to call women big sluts), the president replied that the Legion of Honor “is not here to preach.
Thank you for reminding me, Mr. President. But in 2023, moral teachers are everywhere.
“And that's why we don't take away the Legion of Honor from an artist on the basis of a report or this or that thing, because at that price we would have taken away the Legion of Honor from many artists.” Macron also added.
As a matter of fact. If we were to put all Legion of Honor recipients under the microscope for “morality,” there wouldn’t be many people left.
I'll give you an example. The actress Isabelle Adjani was promoted to Knight of the Legion of Honor in 2010.
However, according to the France-Presse agency, Isabelle Adjani was sentenced in her absence last week in Paris to two years' suspended imprisonment and a fine of 250,000 euros (about C$365,000) for tax evasion and whitewashing. The court underlined the “seriousness of the facts,” which led to the evasion of 236,000 euros in income tax and 1.2 million euros in real estate transfer tax.
“These facts demonstrate the desire for obfuscation towards the tax administration of Isabelle Adjani” and “seriously undermine the equality of citizens before taxes and therefore the republican compact,” declared the president.
Which honour?
I remind you that Adjani was tried and found guilty.
Depardieu has not yet been charged in court…