Forum Views ()
Forum Replies ()
Read more with google mobile :
John Galliano to attend anti-Semitic trial
|
Edition:
U.S.
Article
Comments (1)
Editor's Choice
John Galliano to attend anti-Semitic trial
Americans ponder major title drought after McIlroy win
Boeing rights a wrong: the flight attendant button
Amy Winehouse cancels entire tour
MLB rejects Dodgers' TV deal with Fox
50 Cent writes anti-bullying book for teens
U.S. air passenger arrested in saggy pants dispute
Comment: Charitable giving jumps despite slow recovery
Video: Race activists want more black models
Slideshow: Day at the races
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Fitch sees risk of Greece, U.S. debt defaults
|
11:04am EDT
RIM starts handing out layoff notices, report says
9:53am EDT
Huntsman enters 2012 race, vows "hard decisions"
|
11:39am EDT
U.S. releases graphic tobacco warning labels
|
9:52am EDT
Amy Winehouse cancels entire tour
|
9:17am EDT
Discussed
48
Weiner tells friends he will resign: NY Times
47
IMF cuts U.S. growth forecast, warns of crisis
46
Ron Paul wins 2012 Republican straw poll in New Orleans
Watched
Hefner's revenge; Ryan Reynolds stops traffic
Fri, Jun 17 2011
Grim cigarette labels aim to curb smoking
Mon, Jun 20 2011
Airbus A380 damaged at Paris Air Show
Mon, Jun 20 2011
John Galliano to attend anti-Semitic trial
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Jury convicts hedge fund tipster Jiau in just hours
Mon, Jun 20 2011
Exelixis shares fall on cancer drug safety concerns
Mon, Jun 6 2011
Russian court upholds Khodorkovsky conviction
Tue, May 24 2011
Analysis & Opinion
Social media and the Vancouver riots
What we can learn from the “Gay Girl in Damascus” hoax
Related Topics
Entertainment »
Fashion »
People »
Fashion designer John Galliano (C) and his lawyer Stephane Zerbib (L) arrive for a hearing at a police station in Paris February 28, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes
By Nick Vinocur
PARIS |
Tue Jun 21, 2011 6:40am EDT
PARIS (Reuters) - Fashion designer John Galliano will attend in person his trial on Wednesday over charges he hurled anti-Semitic insults at customers in a cafe in a series of outbursts that have wrecked a towering career.
Galliano, 50, was fired as creative director for fashion empire Dior in March after a video surfaced online showing him, apparently inebriated, telling a woman he "loved Hitler" and that her parents might have been gassed in a Nazi death camp.
The video, filmed in December, sent shockwaves through the fashion world as complaints surfaced over two separate incidents of alleged anti-Semitic slurs by the British designer, which will be dealt with at Wednesday's trial.
If found guilty Galliano faces up to 22,000 euros ($31,500) in fines and a six-month prison sentence, people close to the case said.
The designer, who has been treated since his dismissal from Dior for multiple substance abuse problems, is to appear at the trial and testify that he is neither a racist nor an anti-Semite but an addict who lost control of his words, his lawyer said.
"One obvious thing is that John Galliano was ill," lawyer Aurelien Hamelle told Reuters.
"He had a triple addiction to alcohol, benzodiazepine (Valium) and sleeping pills ... The combined effect of these drugs is a state of complete and utter abandon."
Under pressure to turn a profit at Dior while also managing his own fashion label, Galliano fell deeper into addiction until he was drinking heavily, ingesting Valium tranquilizer pills "like candy" and using sleeping pills regularly, Hamelle said.
"When he was in that state he had no way of knowing or remembering what he said. Every witness at the cafe has said he was in an abnormal condition," Hamelle said, adding Galliano himself was baffled to see his behavior in the video.
Galliano has apologized repeatedly for the recorded remarks.
PLAINTIFF VIEW: A LION IN HIS DEN
The prosecution will present Galliano as a bigoted man whose hatreds and prejudices rose to the surface when he was drunk and cavorting on what he considered to be home territory.
Geraldine Bloch, a museum curator who said she did not know of Galliano before their encounter on February 24, is suing him over what her lawyer described as a 45-minute, drink-fueled tirade of anti-Semitic, racist and personal abuse.
Lawyer Yves Beddouk said his client was not interested in money. He will fight at the trial for 1 euro of symbolic damages and the publication of the court decision in the fashion magazines Elle and Vogue and in the French daily Le Figaro.
The three known incidents involving Galliano and alleged rants -- Bloch's in February, another in October and the December incident that was filmed anonymously and published on the Internet -- all took place at La Perle, a cafe down the street from Galliano's home in Paris's trendy Marais district.
"Galliano considered that he was on his own territory, and that people he didn't like had no right to be there," Beddouk told Reuters outside a courthouse in Versailles.
"When you've got such a big reputation, you need to be even more respectful and cautious than regular people," he said, adding that Galliano's rants seemed to be part of a pattern.
Whatever the trial's outcome, Galliano will struggle to overcome an episode that has devastated his career, tainting what had been one of the biggest success stories in the world of high fashion in two decades.
Long known as the "enfant terrible" of haute couture, Galliano revitalized the Dior brand on taking it over in 1996, injecting a powerful dose of edginess until his last Fall-Winter womenswear collection was presented, in his absence, on March 4.
In the ensuing weeks, Galliano was also dropped from his own fashion brand, "John Galliano," 92-percent owned by Dior, and came under fire from people like Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld.
Dior is the main fashion name at LVMH, the world's biggest luxury group and led by billionaire Bernard Arnault.
Hamelle said Galliano has been sober for three months and is "rebuilding himself" after treatment in the United States for addiction but had yet to return to a regular professional activity.
(Editing by Catherine Bremer and Matthew Jones)
Entertainment
Fashion
People
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
PeterParker123 wrote:
Alcoholism or drug addiction is not an excuse for racism.
It’s just easier for the hate to come out when they are wasted.
Jun 21, 2011 9:23am EDT -- Report as abuse
See All Comments »
Add Your Comment
Social Stream (What's this?)
© Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters
Editorial Editions:
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
United States
Reuters
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Help
Journalism Handbook
Archive
Site Index
Video Index
Reader Feedback
Mobile
Newsletters
RSS
Podcasts
Widgets
Your View
Analyst Research
Thomson Reuters
Copyright
Disclaimer
Privacy
Professional Products
Professional Products Support
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Careers
Online Products
Acquisitions Monthly
Buyouts
Venture Capital Journal
International Financing Review
Project Finance International
PEhub.com
PE Week
FindLaw
Super Lawyers Attorney Rating Service
Reuters on Facebook
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.
Other News on Tuesday, 21 June 2011 Yemen says army beating militants in southern city
|
Original Glee cast to graduate in 2012
Latest on Obama's War Powers Act workaround
Settlers cultivate West Bank tourism to tighten grip on land
|
Rep. Giffords enjoys "beautiful weekend" return to Tucson
Health On The Hill Transcript: Dems, GOP stake out positions in budget talks
Report: Cavs considering Enes Kanter for No. 1 draft pick?
Court upholds Corsican separatist's murder verdict
|
Boeing takes big orders at Paris Air Show
NHL salary cap expected to rise again; should increase to $64 million
Church should pay Dutch abuse victims: commission
|
Borders to name bankruptcy buyer by July
Amy Winehouse booed off stage, cancels tour dates
Three slain in southern Somalia battle
Facebook to take top spot in U.S. display ad market
|
RIM marketing executive jumps ship for Samsung
|
Rambus antitrust trial kicks off against rivals
|
GPS interference alters LightSquared network plans
|
Hackers bring down British police Website
|
Defense firms see opportunity in cyber attacks
|
Jackass co-star dies in car crash in Pennsylvania
|
Tennis great Jimmy Connors to write memoir
|
Tunisia's Ben Ali sentenced in absentia to 35 years in jail
|
Jason Giambi blasts Rockies past Indians with three run shot
Syria forces sweep Aleppo as Assad promises reform
|
U.S. fails to move beyond words against Sri Lanka for war-crimes against Tamils
Hinduism Summit in Virginia attracts pan-American audience, calls for action
Russia says plane crash kills 44, eight injured
|
Dodgers TV deal rejected by MLB; team may not be able to pay bills
Bombs kill 21 at local Iraqi governor's house
|
Russian Tu-134 plane crashes near Petrozavodsk
Cee-Lo Green denies he is homophobic following Tweet
Australian flights disrupted by ash cloud again
|
Mubarak diagnosed with cancer before his August trial
Hurricane Beatriz heads to Mexico's Pacific coast
|
Cast for Basketball Wives LA revealed
Male manicure sparks discrimination suit, court stops salon from charging men more
Supreme Court Strikes Down Huge Sex Discrimination Lawsuit Against Walmart
Nokia unveils new Windows smartphone
|
India IT hub orders Google to suspend Street View service
|
TerreStar units fight $104 million claim from Sprint
|
Scandals or not, VC firms still love China Net startups
|
Sprint offers AT&T spectrum solution without merger
|
Apple deal could buy Nokia time to change: Moody's
|
Nokia unveils new N9 smartphone in Singapore
|
Mad Men, Modern Family honored by TV critics
|
Gossip Girl star to play Jeff Buckley in movie
|
50 Cent writes anti-bullying book for teens
|
Peter Fonda marries in Hawaii
|
Rock guitarist Leslie West's lower leg amputated
|
Marilyn Monroe subway dress breaks auction record
|
Britain says can stay in Libya fight as long as needed
|
Yemen says steps up fight against Islamists
|
Final court approval for Native American class action suit
Pakistan arrests brigadier over Islamist ties
|
McKinsey stands by contested health insurance survey
Local wisdom key to combating animal diseases
U.N. urges countries to extend permits for Haitians
|
Analysis: Home-grown frustration behind Nigeria bombing
|
War in Libya reaches Gaza gas pumps
Italy's Berlusconi overcomes parliamentary test
|
Actor Doug Hutchinson, 51, marries 16-year-old girl in Las Vegas
Congo measles outbreak kills 32, infects hundreds
Disgraced Amy Winehouse cancels entire European tour
Iran invites U.N. atom chief to see its nuclear sites
|
This cat burglar is one sneaky cat--really.
Protestors march through Valencia in diapers
Aces with bats, too; Phillies pitchers also a hit at plate
LulzSec's ambition grows, targets secret government data
|
More pain for Nokia, RIM seen as smartphones get cheaper
|
Verizon to kick off usage-based pricing in July
|
RIM starts handing out layoff notices, report says
|
John Galliano to attend anti-Semitic trial
|
Amy Winehouse cancels entire tour
|
No regrets for resurgent musician Leon Russell
|
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights