PARIS (AP) 鈥� Women鈥檚 rights activists criticized French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday for appearing to take sides with actor G茅rard Depardieu by saying the film star who is facing 鈥渕akes France proud.鈥�
Speaking on Wednesday night on TV channel France 5, Macron described himself as a 鈥渂ig admirer鈥� of a 鈥済reat actor.鈥� Macron added: 鈥淗e makes France proud.鈥�
Macron鈥檚 comments in a televised interview come after a documentary that aired earlier this month said of harassing, groping or sexually assaulting them. The France-2 report also showed the actor making obscene remarks and gestures during a 2018 trip to North Korea.
They also come as a Spanish journalist and writer recently filed a complaint against Depardieu, who she says sexually abused her during an interview in Paris in 1995, Spanish police said Thursday.
Asked about such accusations against Depardieu, Macron said he believed in the presumption of innocence and the judicial process. 鈥淵ou will never see me participate in a manhunt,鈥� the French leader said.
Macron also criticized his culture minister鈥檚 decision to concerning Depardieu鈥檚 prestigious Order of the Legion of Honor, which could lead to the award getting rescinded. He said Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak went 鈥渁 bit too far.鈥�
The Legion of Honor is not 鈥渁 moral tool鈥� and should not be removed 鈥渂ased on a documentary,鈥� Macron said.
Depardieu, 74, was in December 2020 for alleged rape and sexual assault following allegations in 2018 from actor Charlotte Arnould, who said the crimes took place at Depardieu鈥檚 home. The investigation is ongoing.
Another alleged victim emerged in Spain, journalist and writer Ruth Baza who filed a complaint last week in the southern city of Torremolinos that the Spanish police said will now be shared with French authorities.
Baza, 51, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday that when she was 23, she interviewed the actor in Paris for the magazine Cineman铆a. She said that in her police complaint she explained how at the end of the interview the actor started kissing her face and neck, and touched her between her legs, behavior she said that police have classified as rape.
Baza said she felt 鈥渢ruly paralyzed鈥� by Depardieu. 鈥淚 was trapped.鈥�
Baza said she had buried the matter in her mind but wrote it all down in detail in her diary at the time. She said the whole episode flooded back last April when she read about against Depardieu.
She said that since then she has been in "a true nightmare鈥� and decided she had to speak out.
鈥淭aking the decision to go to the police has been the very last decision to try to go on with my life and leave this story in the hands of others and just try to help others who are in my very same situation and who are not able to talk,鈥� Baza said.
She said that she has every intention of testifying to French authorities if needed.
Another complaint was filed in France in September by comedian Helene Darras for alleged sexual assault. Darras accused Depardieu of touching her bottom when she was a young extra for the 2008 film 鈥淒isco.鈥�
Women rights activists on Thursday vigorously denounced Macron鈥檚 comments.
Michelle Dayan, president of Lawyers 4 Women, said that as a lawyer and a citizen, she also believed strongly in the presumption of innocence. 鈥淵et it mustn鈥檛 be used as a pretext not to listen to women who say they are victims of abuses,鈥� she said.
Speaking on France Info news broadcaster, Dayan said 鈥渧iolence against women starts there 鈥� in the image of women that is conveyed鈥� through Depardieu鈥檚 shocking remarks.
Activist group Osez le feminisme denounced on X, formerly Twitter, 鈥渙ne more confirmation that, definitively, Emmanuel Macron doesn鈥檛 live in the same world as us.鈥�
鈥淲e, the prey, are facing a man (Depardieu) who describes himself as a 鈥榞reat hunter,鈥� yet who, in the words of the president, becomes the victim of a 鈥榤anhunt,鈥欌�� the group posted.
Anne-C茅cile Mailfert, president of the Women鈥檚 Foundation, said on BFM TV that Macron鈥檚 comments were 鈥渧ery serious鈥� because 鈥渉e is judging women who filed a complaint, women who spoke out. 鈥� He鈥檚 taking sides.鈥�
Former French President Francois Hollande also chimed in to counter his successor. 鈥淣o, we are not proud,鈥� Hollande said on the France Inter radio network.
What was expected from the president was to 鈥渟peak about women鈥� who see in Depardieu鈥檚 remarks 鈥渧iolence, domination and contempt,鈥� he said.
In October, Depardieu published an open letter in the French newspaper Le Figaro that said, 鈥淚 want to tell you the truth. I have never, ever abused a woman.鈥�
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Associated Press writer Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.
Sylvie Corbet, The Associated Press
