The statue of actor Gérard Depardieu was removed today from the view path of the MuséeGrévin, the historic wax museum in Paris. The decision to withdraw the statue of the sacred monster of French cinema, specifies the museum's management to Agence France Presse, was taken after "negative reactions from visitors as well as on social networks".
In recent days, an investigative programme on Depardieu carried out by journalists from Complèment d'Enquete (France 2) has sparked a wave of shock and indignation across France, including from the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak.
The program has unveiled new embarrassing footage from 5 years ago, when the actor went to North Korea for the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Pyongyang regime, peppering his own North Korean interpreter with advances and jokes with a sexist and sexual background, with appreciation even on a 10-year-old girl. Among other things, at least sixteen women have accused the actor with dual French and Russian passports of sexual abuse. Depardieu has been under investigation since 2020 for rape of Charlotte Arnould and was most recently accused by actress Hélène Darras, as part of an alleged sexual assault perpetrated in 2007, during the filming of the film Disco. In an article published yesterday in the Journal du Dimanche, Depardieu's family denounced an ''unprecedented conspiracy'' deploring, in particular, a feeling of ''collective anger'' against the actor. Created in 1882 on the initiative of the journalist, Arthur Meyer, founder of the Gaulois newspaper, the Musée Grévin welcomes 800,000 visitors a year. Along the way, wax reproductions of about 250 historical and contemporary personalities are presented. The statue of Depardieu was unveiled by the actor himself in 1981.
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