Accusations Are Not Facts - Froma Harrop
Thursday, January 11, 2024
The French actor Gerard Depardieu is world-known as a lusty, usually charming pursuer of the carnal. He's now being accused of crimes against women, some violent in nature. A star of French cinema, Depardieu is being defended by French President Emmanuel Macron. Other supporters are former French first lady Carla Bruni, actress Charlotte Rampling and Depardieu's former partner, actress Carole Bouquet.
An accusation is not a conviction. It is common in custody battles for one parent to falsely accuse the other of child abuse. Jilted lovers are known to smear their ex-partners for revenge. Grifters make false accusations to shake "deep pockets" down for money. And some accusers are mentally unstable.
Depardieu might be guilty of serious crimes, but isn't it early to talk about stripping away his Legion of Honor medal? Depardieu denies the charges of rape and assault and, as Macron says, he deserves a presumption of innocence until a court decides otherwise.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTA group leading the war against Depardieu, called MeTooMedia, responded to Macron, "You invoked the presumption of innocence, as if innocence took precedence over presumption."
Well, doesn't it?
Look, serious allegations must be investigated. But until it's established that a crime has been committed, it's only someone's word.
Depardieu is a big fat target who makes gross sexist remarks on the record. A character of enormous appetites, Depardieu is no Cary Grant, nor ever was.
But while rape is a violent crime, publicly saying crude things about a girl on a horse is not. A company would be well in its rights to dismiss an employee who did this, but then the perp would be jobless not incarcerated.
It's not against the law to be a pig, which based on Depardieu's rap sheet of filthy remarks, he may well be. Anyone who wants to boycott his movies is free to do so. Barring him from appearing in movies, however, is another matter.
Hardly a day goes by without some news report that "So-and-so has been accused of sexual harassment." Therefore, he must step down or be blacklisted or hand someone a bag of money. And it's alarming how many allegedly smart people fail to ask whether the individual was guilty and, if so, whether the charge involved truly serious misconduct.
When Joe Biden was running for president in 2020, a random woman accused him of grabbing her privates. What followed were urgent calls for him to leave the race, not so much from Republicans but from Democrats backing one of Biden's competitors for the nomination.
"In an ideal world, the Democrats would not have nominated a candidate whose history included guerrilla-nuzzling women and a possible sexual assault," Jennifer Senior wrote in The New York Times back in 2020.
All this before taking a close look at Biden's accuser. Tara Reade had a history of knocking on the door of her landlord to ask for emotional support. She often didn't pay her rent. She also had a thing for Vladimir Putin and eventually defected to Russia. Yet on the basis of this troubled woman's unverified accusations, Biden's campaign could have fallen.
It's not just the veracity of the accusation that needs questioning; it is also the accusation itself. Biden did "nuzzle" the back of at least one woman's head. He shouldn't have not done that, but characterizing that dated fatherly gesture as a "guerrilla" attack was hysterical.
One of the biggest raps against Depardieu, according to Le Monde, is that, on a trip to North Korea, he was heard "making explicit sexual comments in the presence of a female interpreter." That was no reason for a wax museum in Paris to immediately remove his figure.
Accusations are not facts. How about waiting for facts?
Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at [email protected].
COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM
Related Articles
- What Do We Think of the New Speaker? - Froma Harrop
- Gun Cultures Need Gun Laws, Too - Froma Harrop
- Time to Face Political Truths on Immigration - Froma Harrop
- Schools Should Drop the Obsession with Gender Identity - Froma Harrop
- Actually, Biden Is ‘Polling’ Really Well - Froma Harrop
- His Ethics Account Was Empty - Froma Harrop
- ‘The Golden Bachelor’: Fantasy or Real? - Froma Harrop
- It’s 10:35 a.m. Does Your Watch Agree? Froma Harrop
- Attacks on Democracy Hurt National Security - Froma Harrop
- Republican Dysfunction Does Not Excuse Democratic Inaction - Froma Harrop
- You Can’t Stop Fentanyl - Froma Harrop
- Funny How the Price of Turkey Became No Big Deal - Froma Harrop
- Mothers Who Work Remotely are Not ‘Mommies’ - Froma Harrop
- What Do We Really Mean by Affordable Housing? Froma Harrop
- Libertines at Moms for Liberty - Froma Harrop
- Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of Reading on Paper - Froma Harrop
- Sorry, Haters. California is Doing Just Fine - Froma Harrop
- Gutsy Democrats Start Turning on the Far Left - Froma Harrop
- Blaming White Men for Problems Is Political Stupidity - Froma Harrop
- ‘Tis the Season to Kill Holly - Froma Harrop
- All Food on the Table Comes From a Farm. Right? - Froma Harrop
- What Happens If Anti-Vaxxers Just Face the Consequences? Froma Harrop
- Stop Worshipping the Ivy League - Froma Harrop
- Nebraska Is Different in Some Very Good Ways - Froma Harrop
- The Democracy Hangs on an Orderly Border - Froma Harrop