John Galliano found guilty of racist and antisemitic abuse

Fashion designer given suspended fine of €6,000 by Paris court The British designer John Galliano has been given a suspended fine of €6,000 (£5,200) by a Paris court for two racist and antisemitic rants at people in a Paris bar. The former star-couturier was found guilty of making “public insults” based on origin, religion, race or ethnicity after two incidents in February 2011 and October 2010. He does not have to pay the fine. In the February incident, a French couple having a beer outside La Perle bar in Paris’s Marais district said he repeatedly insulted them with lines including “Dirty Jewish face”, “Fucking ugly Jewish bitch” and “Fucking Asian bastard”. Geraldine Bloch, 35, said he first asked her to shut up, then criticised her clothes, hair, thighs, eyebrows and make-up. He made 30 anti-Jewish insults in the space of 45 minutes, she said. Another woman said he made similar insults to her in the same bar in October. At Galliano’s trial in June, the state prosecutor had requested judges fine Galliano saying that although he was not not a “theoretician” of race hatred or antisemitism, this was “everyday antisemitism and racism” which she said was “pitiful and dreadful”. It is doubtful whether Galliano – who told his trial he couldn’t remember the incident because of a “triple addiction” to alcohol, sleeping tablets and Valium – will ever be able to redeem himself at the top of the fashion world. He has undergone treatment for his addiction in the US and also in Switzerland. He appeared frail and weak at his trial in June but was not present on Thursday for the verdict. He was sacked from his post as creative director of the French fashion house Dior when was arrested in a drunken state in after the February incident. Speculation is rife over who will replace him at the luxury label. At his trial Galliano described the stress of fashion industry and the success of Dior and how he couldn’t cope without alcohol or drugs. “I started having panic attacks, I couldn’t go to work unless I had taken some Valium.” He started drinking “in a cyclical way” in 2007. “After every creative high I would crash and the drink would help me to escape.” He said the financial crash meant he had to branch out into a bewildering array of new lines including beachwear and perfumes, described a manic schedule of working through the night then going directly to early morning starts on shoots, meetings and endless haute-couture fittings. Work pressure was so much that when his father died and then his design assistant and closest friend, he went straight back to work hours after each funeral. Galliano said his body became so used to prescription pills, he upped his intake. “I actually can’t remember how many I was taking.” He said he needed sleeping pills to sleep but also took them during the day. During June trial, he told the three-judge panel he was sorry “for the sadness that this whole affair has caused”. Asked in court about a separate video in which he insulted a bar client and said “I love Hitler”, Galliano said: “These are not views that I hold or believe in… I see someone who needs help, who’s vulnerable. It’s the shell of John Galliano. I see someone who’s been pushed to the edge.” Several French anti-racist associations had lodged civil complaints against the designer as well as the people who claim he insulted them. Born in Gibraltar, the son of a British plumber and a Spanish mother, Galliano said mixed roots defined his work and that he was not racist. In a statement earlier this year, Galliano accepted the accusations had “greatly shocked and upset people” but denied the claims made against him. But he added: “I must take responsibility for the circumstances in which I found myself and for allowing myself to be seen to be behaving in the worst possible light. I only have myself to blame and I know that I must face up to my own failures and that I must work hard to gain people’s understanding and compassion.” He added: “Antisemitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologise for my behaviour in causing any offence.” France John Galliano Europe Angelique Chrisafis guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 8, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.