Tribune of support for Depardieu: Darmon, Bouquet, Trintignant... These signatories who backpedal

“Uncomfortable”, “serious error”, “nuance”… After the media excitement and negative reactions sparked by the column published in Le Figaro on December 25 calling not to “erase” Gérard Depardieu – accused rapes and sexual assaults -, some signatories distanced themselves from the instigator of this forum, whose stated aim was to defend “the last sacred monster of cinema”. “What right would we have to prevent Gérard Depardieu, what reprehensible thing has he done? He made jokes!” Yannis Ezziadi, actor and columnist in Causeur magazine and close to Julie Depardieu, explained to Franceinfo.

A speech which did not reassure all the signatories. On his Instagram account, Charles Berling distanced himself from Yannis Ezziadi. The actor assured Saturday, December 30 that he regretted “the lack of nuance and the shortcuts of this text”, which he nevertheless signed a few days before. The actor wanted to defend “the legitimacy of justice against the effects of hordes and packs”, he confided, apologizing for having “hurt many people” and assuring his “commitment against violence against women".

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Nadine Trintignant, whose daughter Marie was killed by her companion the singer Bertrand Cantat, recognized a “serious error” in Le Point. “I did not know when signing this column by whom it was written,” she assures, recalling however that she is “against media lynchings whatever they may be”.

Carole Bouquet also assured, on Instagram, that she did not support “the ideas and values ​​associated with the journalist carrying this column. Giving him visibility through Gérard makes me, as you can imagine, deeply uncomfortable.” After the broadcast of the Supplementary investigation devoted to the accusations against Gérard Depardieu, the actress estimated in the Quotidien program that the actor was “incapable of harming a woman” and denounced a “media court”.

As for Gérard Darmon, he admitted on BFMTV that there were "some nuances" to his signature, ensuring that he did not "know" Yannis Ezziadi, from whom he received an e-mail asking him if he wanted to put his name at the bottom of the platform. “I read a little obliquely because I find what I'm looking for there,” defends the actor, recalling that he doesn't know Gérard Depardieu but has “a holy horror [...] of hordes of dogs beating a man to the ground” and having wanted to defend the presumption of innocence.

Director Josée Dayan said she was “very uncomfortable” to be associated with Yannis Ezziadi who, she assured in a press release sent to AFP, “presented himself as an actor wanting to defend Gérard [Depardieu], simply giving his first name.” She specifies, however, that she "does not withdraw [her] signature for the moment because [she] remains attached to the presumption of innocence", adding that "the fact that Gérard is an immense actor does not exempt him from being judged, but does not imply that it is destroyed.