Depardieu drops lawsuit over 2023 TV report controversy

French actor Gérard Depardieu has dropped a lawsuit against broadcaster France Télévisions over a 2023 television report that depicted him making sexual comments about a young girl, News.Az reports, citing AFP.

Depardieu, whose extensive film and television career includes the 1990 comedy Green Card and the Netflix series Marseille, is the most high-profile figure involved in France’s response to the #MeToo movement.

The 77-year-old actor’s decision to withdraw the case was announced by his lawyer, Delphine Meillet, at the beginning of a hearing before the Paris Criminal Court.

The lawsuit stemmed from a dispute over a December 2023 broadcast that damaged his public image and triggered widespread controversy in France. The programme, titled “The Fall of the Ogre,” featured footage from a 2018 trip to North Korea in which Depardieu was seen making repeated sexual comments about women.

In one segment, he appears to make an inappropriate remark about a young girl riding a horse.

The withdrawal of the lawsuit also applies to France Télévisions president Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, the report’s authors, and the production company Hikari.

France Télévisions welcomed the withdrawal, saying it ends two years of legal proceedings, controversy, and misinformation. The broadcaster also stated that two expert analyses concluded Depardieu had made sexually explicit remarks toward a young girl and found no evidence of manipulated footage.

Last year, a Paris court sentenced Depardieu to an 18-month suspended term after convicting him of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021. The court also ordered him to register as a sex offender.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev