Macron under fire for remarks defending film icon Depardieu

PARIS

French President Emmanuel Macron on Dec. 21 faced accusations of siding with sexual aggressors after saying film icon Gerard Depardieu, charged with rape and facing a litany of sexual assault claims, was the target of "a manhunt."

Depardieu, 74, was charged with rape in 2020 and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women. He currently faces fresh scrutiny over sexist comments caught on camera during a trip to North Korea in 2018 that were broadcast for the first time in a documentary on national television earlier this month.

Asked in a television interview on Dec. 21 whether Depardieu should be stripped of France's highest state award, which he received nearly three decades ago, Macron said, "You will never see me take part in a manhunt. I hate that kind of thing. The presumption of innocence is part of our values."

Macron said he felt "huge admiration" for Depardieu, whom he called "an immense actor."

But Generation.s Feministe, a feminist collective, said Macron's comments were "an insult" to all women who had suffered sexual violence, "first and foremost those who accused Depardieu."

The president's remarks were "not just scandalous but also dangerous," Maelle Noir of the Nous Toutes association told AFP, because the statements of victims were "disbelieved, and trampled on, with impunity."

"Between us and the president, there is not just a gap but a yawning abyss," she said.

Sandrine Rousseau, a Green party MP, said "Macron has picked his side - that of the aggressors."

Anne-Cecile Mailfert, who heads association the Women's Foundation, added: "A single tweet is not enough to say how disgraceful and despicable this is towards the victims, and how behind the times."

Last week, French Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak said the actor's behavior shamed France, noting that he might be stripped of the Legion d'Honneur, the country's top award he received in 1996.

But in the interview on Dec. 21 Macron said, "We don't take the Legion of Honor away from an artist on the basis of a TV report or whatever else, because if we started doing that, we'd have to take the Legion of Honor away from a lot of artists," he said.

The Legion of Honor "is not there to impose moral standards" on the recipient, Macron said.