Emmanuel Macron has “no regrets” for having defended the “presumption of innocence” of Gérard Depardieu

Right in his line. During his press conference Tuesday evening, Emmanuel Macron said he had “no regrets for having defended the presumption of innocence” of actor Gérard Depardieu, indicted for “rape” and “sexual assault”. “I have no regrets for having defended the presumption of innocence for a public figure, an artist in this case, as I did for political leaders,” he declared. Before adding: “If I have one regret at this time, it is not having said enough how important the words of women who are victims of this violence are and how essential this fight is for me.”

Guest on December 20, 2023 on the program “C à vous” on France 5, the President of the Republic reacted to the words of the now former Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul-Malak, who had announced that a “procedure disciplinary action to suspend or withdraw the Legion of Honor" from the actor had been launched. “The Legion of Honor is an order, of which I am in fact the grand master, which is not there to preach,” he said, describing Gérard Depardieu as a “genius of his art”. And to react to the “Complement of investigation”, on France 2, on his subject: “It is not on the basis of a report that we take away the Legion of Honor from an artist because at this price -there we would have taken it away from many artists.”