Around sixty French artists denounced in a column published in the press a “lynching” of the star actor Gérard Depardieu, who has been accused of rape since 2020 and is at the center of a scandal that has become political in the media following the recent broadcast of a documentary on television .
• Also read: Gérard Depardieu: The controversial investigation was certified by the bailiff
• Also read: “No, we are not proud of Gérard Depardieu,” says former President François Hollande
Among the signatories of this column published on Monday evening in the daily newspaper “Le Figaro” are the director Bertrand Blier, the actresses Nathalie Baye, Carole Bouquet and Charlotte Rampling, the actors Jacques Weber, Pierre Richard and Gérard Darmon, but also the singers Roberto Alagna, Carla Bruni, Arielle Dombasle or Jacques Dutronc.
“Gérard Depardieu is probably the greatest actor. The last sacred monster of cinema. We can no longer remain silent in the face of the lynching that was committed against him, in the face of the flood of hatred that pours down on his person without nuance, in total fusion and in defiance of the presumption of innocence. He would have benefited like everyone else if he had not been the cinema giant would have been who he is,” they write in this text.
“When we attack Gérard Depardieu in this way, it is art that we are attacking. Through his genius as an actor, Gérard Depardieu contributes to the artistic influence of our country. (…) Whatever happens, no one will ever be able to erase the indelible mark of his work that will forever mark our times. The rest, everything else, concerns justice; as justice. Exclusively,” they add.
French President Emmanuel Macron and members of the actor's family, including his daughter Julie, have already publicly come out in defense of Gérard Depardieu, who has been accused of one of the two lawsuits brought against him in France and has denied these allegations.
The recent broadcast of a report about the actor on France 2's Complément d'investigation program caused a shockwave with international repercussions. In these images, Gérard Depardieu multiplies misogynistic and offensive remarks by addressing women and a little girl with remarks of a sexual nature.
The France Télévisions group, to which the channel belongs, assured on Friday that this last passage had been “certified” by a bailiff. This reaction came after comments from the head of state that the sequence may have been changed during editing, as the actor's family had previously claimed.
Since the scandal, Gérard Depardieu has been removed from the National Order of Quebec and his title as an honorary citizen of the municipality of Estaimpuis in Belgium, while his wax statue has been removed from the tour of the famous Grévin Museum in Paris.