Photo: CTK/AP/Andrei Stasevich

Paris - Famed French actor Gérard Depardieu has announced that he is making available his high French state decoration, the Legion of Honour. On Friday, Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak said she had ordered disciplinary proceedings that could result in the withdrawal of the decoration. This is due to recently aired footage from Depardieu's 2018 visit to the DPRK, where the actor made derogatory comments about women. Depardieu has also faced criticism and investigations over sexual assault allegations.

Na začátku prosince stanice France 2 odvysílala záběry z hercovy návštěvy v Severní Koreji v roce 2018. Depardieu na záběrech při jednání se ženami pronáší urážlivé výroky a napodobuje sexuální akty. "Ženy milují jízdu na koni, (protože) se jim klitoris tře o sedlo (...) a obrovsky si to užívají," řekl podle agentury AFP Depardieu.

Culture Minister Malak said on Friday that the famous actor was embarrassing France with his behaviour and that his remarks in the DPRK were absolutely shocking. She had a disciplinary procedure opened to decide whether to strip Depardieu of the Legion of Honour or at least suspend him from the honours corps. "The Legion of Honour honours a person, an artist, an approach, values," the minister said. Depardieu will be given the opportunity to defend his behaviour before the commission, the culture ministry chief added.

According to his lawyers, Depardieu is making available a decoration awarded to him by President Jacques Chirac in 1996. They said the Culture Minister had "hammered another nail in the coffin of the already dying presumption of innocence" and was participating in a "media lynching" of the actor. They criticise France 2 for broadcasting 'edited footage taken in an intimate and private sphere'.

ceskenoviny.cz
Depardieu dal k dispozici svou čestnou legii, ministryně zvažuje její odebrání | ČeskéNoviny.cz
Paříž - Známý francouzský herec Gérard Depardieu oznámil, že dává k dispozicí své vysoké francouzské státní vyznamenání, Řád čestné legie. V pátek ministryně kultury Rima Abdul Malaková prohlásila, že nechala zahájit disciplinární řízení, které by mohlo vyústit v odebrání vyznamenání. Důvodem jsou nedávno odvysílané záběry z Depardieuovy návštěvy KLDR v roce 2018, kde se herec hanlivě vyjadřoval k ženám. Depardieu také čelí kritikám a vyšetřování kvůli údajným sexuálním útokům.

CTK/Jana Černá