Fashion designer John Galliano took the stand in a Paris courtroom today to stand trial over allegations that he hurled anti-semitic slurs at a couple during a night out in the French capital in February.
His defense? I don’t remember a thing.
The former head designer of Christian Dior testified that he was so deep into a “triple addiction” to alcohol, Valium and sleeping pills that he has no recollection of the verbally abusive tirade against a French couple who had the misfortune of sitting next to him at a cafe near his apartment.
Among the horrible things Galliano reportedly spouted were telling the woman, “Dirty Jewish face…you should be dead,” and the man, “f–king Asian bastard, I will kill you.”
French law prohibits public insults toward others because of origins, race or religion.
Dior immediately fired Galliano after 14 years with the company on the eve of Paris Fashion Week.
The fashion guru blamed his addictions on the pressures of helping “make Dior a billion-dollar business.”
Days after the cafe incident, a video surfaced of the designer praising Hitler and telling a woman that her family “would be f–king gassed,” in a separate incident.
After prosecutors screened the 45-second video in which the 50-year-old designer shouts “I love Hitler,” Galliano apologized to the court and for the sadness the affair has caused, saying, “These are not views that I hold or believe in. In the video, 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. All my life I’ve fought against prejudice and intolerance and discrimination because I have been subjected to it myself.”
So, did the three judges hearing the case buy it? The verdict won’t be decided until September.
Prosecutors are asking that Galliano be fined no less than $14,400 , however, he could face up to six months in prison and a $33,000 fine for “public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity.”
Photo: WENN