On Monday evening, Brussels revoked the Medal of Honour it had granted to French actor Gérard Depardieu in 2018, awarded in recognition of his "promotion of Brussels on the international stage".
The decision is part of a wider scandal enveloping the French actor for sexual misconduct and rape. A France 2 documentary 'The Fall of the Ogre' aired on 7 December and features Depardieu making obscene comments to women and about women. Public disgust following the broadcast might prove the nail in the coffin for the actor's reputation, already tarred by a rape charge in 2020 and 13 separate allegations of sexual harassment or assault.
"We didn't know all these stories at the time," said Geoffroy Coomans de Brachène (MR), an alderman for the City of Brussels in 2018. "We didn't see anything out of the ordinary."
Depardieu has lost numerous honours and medals in the fallout of the damning allegations against him. The Walloon municipality of Estaimpuis stripped him of his honorary citizenship on Saturday. The actor's move to Belgium in 2012 was at first thought to be purely motivated by tax evasion (François Hollande had recently imposed a 75% "supertax" on earnings over €1 million). However, the cinema icon integrated with the community, even opening a wine shop and becoming an honorary member of local film festival Ramdam.
Depardieu during the Belgian Rally Championship, November 2013 in Huy. Credit: Belga
On the rescindment of Depardieu's citizenship, the local authorities said the comments broadcast on television "run counter to the values promoted by the municipality of Estaimpuis".
Ostracisation has begun in his home country, too. The Musée Grevin in Paris has removed his wax statue, and culture minister Rima Abdul Malak has launched a procedure to revoke his Légion d'honneur, the highest order of merit in France. President Emmanuel Macron has sought to distance himself from the latter initiative, warning against a knee-jerk political reaction to a media firestorm.
Depardieu was also removed from the Québec National Order.
