“Complément d'investigation” and France Télévisions want to dispel doubts: the passage from the investigative program in which the actor Gérard Depardieu apparently makes sexual comments about a little girl has been “certified” by a bailiff.
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This announcement from France Télévisions on Friday comes after comments made by President Emmanuel Macron on France 5 on Wednesday suggesting that the sequence may have been changed during editing.
This was previously stated by the family of the actor, who has also been accused of rape since 2020, following a complaint from actress Charlotte Arnould.
“There is no doubt and no ambiguity that it is in fact the young girl in the picture who is the target of Gérard Depardieu's comments,” the public television group assured in a press release.
A bailiff appointed on Thursday to “authenticate and certify the images and comments in question” was able to view the images (the raw images without editing), France Télévisions said.
He “certifies in his observation that it is a single sequence in which Gérard Depardieu observes an equestrian performance”.
He also testifies that “during the sequence he could perceive Gérard Depardieu's comments and that, with the exception of the young girl, only male-looking drivers appeared in the foreground of the cameras.”
“Fake News”
“Normally we don't show our attacks to anyone, not even to the courts, because it's a question of source confidentiality,” Complément d'investigation host Tristan Waleckx told franceinfo, a French news site. TV.
“But in this context of an avalanche of fake news (…) we decided, exceptionally, to show them to a bailiff to confirm the accuracy of our work,” he continued.
These images were taken by writer Yann Moix during the actor's trip to North Korea in 2018 and aired on France 2's Complément d'investigation on December 7th.
We see Gérard Depardieu multiply misogynistic and insulting remarks while addressing women, and others of a sexual nature when a little girl comes into the picture on a horse.
This show sparked huge controversy, with the actor being accused of rape and sexual assault, which he denies.
Responding to a question on Wednesday on the program “C à vous”, Mr Macron said: “Sometimes there are outbursts over comments made, I am aware of the context (…) I have seen the pictures, I have also heard that there are such.” Controversies over the words that did not match the pictures.
He also said he was a “huge admirer” of the actor and said he “hated” “manhunts,” comments that sparked protests from feminist movements.
Bolloré universe
In a column published on December 17 in the Journal du Dimanche (JDD), Gérard Depardieu's family (his children Julie, Roxane and Jean, his niece Delphine and his ex-wife Élisabeth) denounced “necessity plans (…)” suspicious , as we can assemble them as we wish.
In an article published online on Thursday, the JDD revisited the matter and suggested that the images may have been “manipulated.” The newspaper's director, Geoffroy Lejeune, defended this point of view on the CNews television channel.
These two media outlets are under the control of Vivendi, the group owned by billionaire Vincent Bolloré, whose opinions are considered extremely conservative.
In another controversy, Complément d'investigation recently faced a figure from the Bolloré universe, the controversial presenter Cyril Hanouna, star of the channel C8 (also owned by Vivendi).
Complement d'investigation dedicated a critical investigation to him on November 30, calling him “the new godfather of the PAF.”
For his part, Yann Moix, who claims that the images of Depardieu were broadcast in North Korea without his consent, said on Thursday in Le Figaro that he was “99% sure that Gérard made these comments about a driver who was not the little daughter was”. .