Galliano convicted of anti-Semetic insults
A Paris court has convicted former Christian Dior designer John Galliano for making anti-Semitic insults and gave him a suspended sentence of €6,000 in fines.
Galliano was given no prison time, and does not have to pay the fine. He did not attend today’s court proceedings.
The Paris court found him guilty of “public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity” stemming from two separate incidents at a Paris bar.
The accusations cost Galliano his job at the luxury design house and rocked the fashion world.
Galliano said he had been under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs and could not recall the incidents in question.
The judge said the court found Galliano had “sufficient awareness of his act despite his addiction and his fragile state”, but the court also took into account that he apologised to the plaintiffs during the June trial and noted the “values of tolerance” in his work.
His lawyer, Aurelien Hamelle, called it “a really strong sign from the court”.
Asked about Galliano’s future plans, he said only that his client was “looking forward to the future” and “will continue to care for himself”.
After 15 critically acclaimed and commercially successful years at Dior, the flamboyant Briton’s brilliant career crashed after a couple alleged he accosted them while they were having a drink at Paris’ hip La Perle cafe on February 24.
Another woman soon came forward with similar claims about a separate incident in the same cafe.
Days later, The Sun posted a video showing a visibly drunk Galliano insulting a fellow cafe client, slurring: “I love Hitler.”
As the video went viral, Dior took swift and decisive action against the man it had long treated as an icon, sacking Galliano days before the label’s autumn-winter 2011 runway show in March. Galliano was later also ousted from his eponymous label, which is owned by Dior’s parent company.
At his day-long trial in June, Galliano resembled a broken, crumpled shadow of his once-inflated self.
In extensive and often-moving testimony, Galliano was contrite and humble, telling the three-judge panel he was sorry “for the sadness that this whole affair has caused”.
He said he’d done a stint in a rehab clinic in Arizona and was recovering from addictions to alcohol, sleeping pills and barbiturates – habits he blamed on the pressures of the high-stakes fashion industry.
Galliano – a 50-year-old who was born Juan Carlos Galliano to a Spanish mother in Gibraltar – rejected any suggestion he was fundamentally racist, saying his multicultural-infused work spoke for itself.
He has culled inspiration for his extravagant, theatrical collections from cultures as far-flung as Kenya’s Massai people and the geishas of Japan.
Galliano was also ordered to pay €16,500 in court fees for the complainants – three individuals and five anti-racism associations – plus a symbolic €1 in damages to each one.
