“There’s one thing you’ll never see me in, that’s on a man hunt. I hate that,” said the French president in an interview on Wednesday evening on the French channel ‘France 5’.
At the beginning of this month, a controversial documentary by Depardieu was shown on ‘France 2’, in which he repeatedly spoke condescendingly about women. After the broadcast, a debate arose in France as to whether the actor would lose his title of ‘Legion d’honneur’ (Legion of Honour, the highest national award, ed.). His lawyers then announced that he was “making the badge of honor available”.
But according to Macron, people are getting ahead of the facts. “There is sometimes excitement about comments made. I am wary of the context,” he said. The president pointed out that the Legion is not there to preach morality. “And so it is not on the basis of a report or anything that we take away the badge of honor (…) One may accuse someone, there may be victims, but there is also such a thing as the presumption of innocence.”