Around sixty personalities from the world of French culture denounce the “lynching” of Gérard Depardieu – accused of rape since 2020 and at the center of a scandal that became political-media following a documentary broadcast on France 2 – in an article published tonight on the Le Figaro website. Among them are the director Bertrand Blier, the actresses Nathalie Baye, Carole Bouquet or Charlotte Rampling, the actors Jacques Weber, Pierre Richard or Gérard Darmon, but also the singers Roberto Alagna, Carla Bruni, Arielle Dombasle or Jacques Dutronc. «Gérard Depardieu is probably the greatest of actors. The last sacred monster of cinema. We can no longer remain silent in the face of the lynching that descends on him, in the face of the torrent of hatred that pours on his person in spite of a presumption of innocence from which he would have benefited, like everyone else, if he had not been the giant of cinema as it is”, we read in the message. «When we attack Gérard Depardieu in this way, it is the art we attack. 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 trace of his work which marks our era forever. The rest, everything else, concerns justice, justice alone.”
The President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron and members of the actor’s family, including his daughter Julie, had already intervened publicly to defend Depardieu, indicted following one of the two complaints in France while the actor denies all the accusations. The recent airing of a report about him on France 2’s ‘Complément d’investigation’ program caused a storm with international repercussions. In the images Depardieu, known among other things for playing Cyrano de Bergerac, indulges in misogynistic and offensive comments towards women, with sexual allusions even towards a little girl.
Depardieu has been under investigation since 2020 for rape against the actress Charlotte Arnould and was accused more recently by the actress Hélène Darras, in the context of an alleged sexual assault perpetrated in 2007.
