Tape shows Galliano praise Hitler
Pictures: Independent Woman
• amfAR cinema against AIDS
• Celebration of the Arts Gala
• What to expect premiere London
• Billboard Music Awards Red Carpet
• Men In Black 3 London Premiere
By John Lichfield in Paris
Tuesday Mar 1 2011
BRITISH fashion designer John Galliano, already suspended by Christian Dior for allegedly making anti-Semitic remarks, has been captured on video saying "I love Hitler" and glorifying the Holocaust.
Mr Galliano (50) was summoned by Paris police yesterday to face three people who accused him of racially abusing them in a Parisian bar in two separate incidents.
The fashion designer denies the allegations and has made counter-accusations that a couple on Thursday defamed, insulted and threatened him.
However, a mobile phone video posted on the internet shows Mr Galliano making a verbal, racial attack on customers in a Paris bar in December. The Dior director, apparently the worse for drink, is captured mid-argument.
A woman asks: "Are you blond, with blue eyes?" Mr Galliano replies: "No, but I love Hitler, and people like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers would be... gassed and... dead."
In the third alleged incident, a woman approached Paris police at the weekend claiming she had suffered anti-Semitic abuse from Mr Galliano in La Perle bar in the Marais district last October.
Christian Dior suspended Mr Galliano pending further investigations on Friday. The designer was to present Dior's autumn-winter collection this week.
Mr Galliano's lawyer, Stephane Zerbib, said yesterday he knew nothing of the video and that his client insisted he was not anti-Semitic. "What matters isn't what's on the internet; what matters are the testimonies and the hearings," Mr Zerbib said.
A Jewish and Asian couple brought formal complaints alleging Mr Galliano said: "Dirty Jewish face, you should be dead", and: "F**king Asian bastard, I will kill you". They also accused the designer of "mild acts of violence".
Under French law, racial insults are punishable by fines of up to €22,400 and six months in prison. (© Independent News Service)
- John Lichfield in Paris
Irish Independent
Latest celebrity sightings
