Macron declares himself a "great admirer" of Gérard Depardieu and denies that he is going to withdraw the Legion of Honor from him

The actor is accused of multiple cases of sexual violence

MADRID, 21 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, has declared himself a "great admirer" of the French actor Gérard Depardieu, accused of sexual violence, and has denied that he is going to withdraw the Legion of Honor, the "highest honor" granted by the French Executive and award for merits performed in the name of the nation.

"I am a great admirer of Depardieu, he is a great actor. A genius of all his art, he made France known throughout the world," he declared in an interview in which he asserted that the actor "makes France proud" and He lamented that "sometimes there are outbursts."

Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak announced on Friday a disciplinary procedure that could lead to the withdrawal of the Legion of Honor. Macron pointed out this Wednesday that the minister had gone "too far", since, according to him, the award "is not here to preach".

"I hate human persecution," declared the French head of state, who has asked that Depardieu's "presumption of innocence" be respected and has indicated that "the legal procedures will continue." "We do not take away the Legion of Honor from an artist for a report (...) At that price, we would have taken (the award) away from many artists," he stated.

The president has stressed that, "if every time someone accuses you of the worst and you have a public role, you can no longer do anything, it is an air of suspicion, it is no longer democracy. We are no longer free citizens." "If he is subsequently convicted, at that moment the proceeding will be made," he added.

In recent months, Gérard Depardieu has received various accusations of sexual violence against thirteen women, during the filming of eleven films released between 2004 and 2022, according to the French newspaper 'Mediapart' last April.

Recently, on December 7, the French actress Hélène Darras denounced the actor for sexual assault in the 2007 film 'Disco'. The actress claims that Depardieu's behavior was "ungovernable" and details that he proposed to go to her dressing room, to which she refused, although that did not stop the actor from continuing to "grope" her.

On the other hand, the Spanish journalist and writer Ruth Baza presented this week to the Torremolinos (Málaga) police a complaint of rape against the actor Gérard Depardieu for events that occurred in Paris in 1995. The complaint includes what happened during the interview with the actor for the magazine 'Cinemanía', when the reporter was 23 years old and it was the premiere of the film 'Colonel Chabert'.