This is just a follow-up, and hopefully the last post, about John Galliano and his drunken, hate-speechy shenanigans. Earlier this year, Galliano was arrested and charged with assault and a hate crime when he attacked – verbally and physically – a woman. After that came the video of Galliano sitting in an outdoor café or something, saying on camera that he loves Hitler. That is considered “hate speech” in France, and they have laws against it. Anyway, a total sh-tstorm followed, and Galliano was publicly maligned by many in the fashion industry. He was first suspended, and then fired from his position at Christian Dior, and Galliano checked himself into rehab. Now, the finale! Galliano was just convicted of hate crimes in Paris, but he doesn’t have to go to jail:

Fashion designer John Galliano was convicted in Paris Thursday of hate crimes after making anti-Semitic and racist remarks on two separate occasions.

The court imposed a suspended fine of 6,000 euros ($8,500) this afternoon. The former Dior designer was also ordered to pay a symbolic one euro fine to one of the plaintiffs in the case.

Galliano was not in court to hear the ruling. Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, his attorney Aurélien Hamelle called it a “wise decision” and added that his client was now “very relieved.”

The 6,000 euro fine is suspended on a conditional term, according to legal sources, that Galliano not be found guilty of any crime in France for five years. He must also pay a 90-euros court cost to the French government.

Two Cases
Thursday’s decision is the result of two cases heard simultaneously in June by the 17th chamber of the Paris Criminal Court. In the first episode, which resulted in Galliano’s Feb. 24 arrest, he was accused of assaulting two people at La Perle, a cafe down the street from his Marais apartment.

The second case involved an incident on Oct. 8, 2010, at the same bar, where he was accused of insulting a 40-year-old woman. The plaintiff in that case came forward only after his February arrest.

Neither case was directly related to a third incident – Galliano’s infamous video in which he professed his love for Hitler.

Galliano, 50, who was fired by Dior following the incidents, attended the proceedings Wednesday, having barely been seen since his arrest. After testifying to a police inquiry in February, he left France to enter The Meadows rehabilitation center in Wickenburg, Ariz.

Since his April release from The Meadows, he was rarely seen in public, other than briefly at Los Angeles International Airport while in transit to an outpatient care facility. He did attend Kate Moss’s July 1 wedding, for which he also designed the gown.

On June 22, Galliano took the stand in his own defense, testifying to the court that he doesn’t remember the incident of Feb. 24 because of a triple addiction to sleeping pills, Valium and alcohol. Explaining his absence of memory, he said: “I have an addiction. I am currently undergoing treatment.”

Dressed in a somber black suit, the designer told the court his addictions grew from his work load and grief caused by the deaths of his father and his right-hand man, Stephen Robinson.

[From People]

Eh. It sounds like the French government didn’t really care, right? What’s the use of having hate speech laws on the books if you don’t enforce them vigorously? The whole things sounds like a colossal waste of time. And considering the influential people who are still on Galliano’s side, he’ll be back. He’ll have a career again. I don’t see him getting a job as some chief designer for one of the major fashion houses, but he’ll probably do his own line, which I’m sure will be enormously popular.

Photos courtesy of Fame & WENN.

Well, I actually thought this happened a while back, but I was wrong. Does everyone remember the John Galliano controversy? He was first arrested and briefly detained in Paris after he had been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks while hammered one night. The issue – in France – is that there are laws about hate speech, as well as public intoxication. The issue might have blown over if not for the video that was released a few days later of Galliano – on a separate occasion – making more drunken, anti-Semitic remarks, and claiming to “love Hitler”. Everybody got upset and LVMH, the parent company of Christian Dior, put Galliano on indefinite suspension. Then Galliano checked himself into rehab, and released a bitchy statement about how no one knows the real story about him loving Hitler or something.

Anyway, Galliano was fired from Christian Dior last month after being suspended, and now he’s been officially fired from his “John Galliano” line, which is also primarily owned by LVMH

John Galliano has reportedly been fired by his namesake label, according to Women’s Wear Daily. He was dismissed from his duties at Christian Dior last month after his arrest for assault and making anti-Semitic remarks, but until now, it was unclear what would happen with the designer’s eponymous line, 91 percent of which is owned by Dior. The decision was supposedly made at a recent meeting.

WWD writes that selling the Galliano house “is not an immediate priority,” although there have been offers, adding:

“It is understood the in-house design team at John Galliano, which shares members with Dior’s, will be charged with producing collections at a house prized for bias-cut dresses, newspaper prints and retro-tinged tailoring. A pre-spring collection is already said to be in the works.”

The label held its ready-to-wear show in March without the designer present. There were only 19 looks and a model, perhaps unwittingly, made a statement with a Jewish star tattoo.

Last weekend, Galliano was spotted at Los Angeles International (LAX) Airport where he was shouted at by a passerby. He is rumored to have completed a one-month stay at rehab in Arizona and is expected to receive a court date in France come May 12.

[From HuffPo/WWD]

It kind of sucks that he doesn’t even get to own his own named label, but thems the breaks. Anyway, I can’t wait for his court date! First Linnocent will be going down (hopefully), and then Galliano. It should be good!

Does this strike anyone else as very similar to the Charlie Sheen situation? Couldn’t Galliano now claim that since he’s been through rehab, it’s wrong for him to be fired? He’s made the effort to change, I suppose. I don’t know, it kind of reminded me of the Charlie Sheen thing. Maybe Galliano will go on a Torpedo of Truth tour too.

Photos courtesy of Fame.

Another day, another story about John Galliano. Yesterday’s big story was about Galliano getting fired from Dior – and I truly hoped that would be the end of it. Today’s story is about Galliano being “persuaded” by his bitchy model BFFs Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss to check into rehab. The New York Times claims that Galliano will likely check into to The Meadows, an Arizona rehab. Well… it’s not like he has anything else going on, and it’s not the first time booze got the blame for some bigot’s hate speech.

John Galliano the talented and troubled designer who was fired by Dior for making anti-Semitic remarks in a drunken rant at a Paris bar, left France to enter rehabilitation on Wednesday, according to friends who would speak only anonymously because of the sensitivity of the situation.

He was persuaded to accept treatment for his alcohol problems by close colleagues and friends like the supermodels Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, the sources said. While the treatment center is not known, it is likely that his destination is The Meadows, a facility in Wickenberg, Arizona, where Elton John and Donatella Versace were treated in recent years.

For Christian Dior, the billion-dollar fashion house that dismissed him on Tuesday for making anti-Semitic remarks while apparently drunk, the problems are only multiplying. The Dior autumn 2011 women’s wear show will go ahead here on Friday, according to a person at Dior who asked not to be identified.

The future of the John Galliano brand, which is underwritten by Dior and barely breaks even financially, is complex. Relying mainly on licenses, built up over the last decade, executives will have to see whether those external partners still want to be associated with a designer whose name has been globally smirched.

But more dramatic for Dior, and for the entire future of haute couture, is the problem of finding a replacement for Mr. Galliano. From the British designer’s tsunami of ideas in the twice-a-year haute couture and ready-to-wear collections, design teams build ranges of inter-season collections and accessory lines. Without leadership, the fashion house can run only a short time on empty.

In the past, Dior’s parent company, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and its founder and chief executive, Bernard Arnault, have tended to switch both executives and designers from brand to brand. Mr. Galliano himself started his reign at LVMH at Givenchy in 1995, before switching to Dior the following year. So it is natural that the name of Riccardo Tisci, the currentdesigner at Givenchy, , Italian-born and British-trained, is considered high on the list of possible replacements at Dior.

Mr. Tisci, like Mr. Galliano an alumni of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, has climbed the steep learning curve toward the heights of haute couture at Givenchy. The theory goes that other LVMH brands, like Céline, Loewe and Louis Vuitton, might then follow with changes in a kind of fashion merry-go-round.

Other theories suggest that a rising fashion star might be plucked to take over at Dior or that an established success story — such as the invigoration of Lanvin by the designer Alber Elbaz — could be transferred to the LVMH stable. But with so many long-established houses searching for new talent, even with the might of Dior, a speedy choice will not be easy.

[From The NYT]

I think Dior will probably go with an established designer to replace Galliano. You know who they should get, in my honest opinion? Christopher Bailey, who is currently doing magnificent things with Burberry. Bailey’s style is detail-oriented and feminine enough for Dior, and he has the vision to do extraordinary things with the label.

Regarding some of the comments I’ve been seeing on these Galliano posts – it seems some of you are under the misapprehension that all of these Galliano controversies are some kind of free speech issue. You’re wrong. First of all, Galliano said his anti-Semitic statements in France, where there are laws against hate speech. Secondly, Galliano wasn’t fired from Dior because LVMH hates free speech – he was fired because his hate speech was bad business, and because the controversy could have quickly snowballed into a situation where one of LVMH’s most profitable divisions would have been forever tainted by one drunken bigot. Third – for those screaming about free speech for Galliano, what about Natalie Portman’s free speech to call him a bigot? Or my free speech to call him the new Mel Gibson? Why is the “free speech” argument only used when someone says something offensive, and not when people react to the dumb, offensive things being said?

UPDATE: Galliano speaks! Thru his lawyers. According to the WSJ/HuffPo, Galliano’s statement says:

Since the events of last Thursday evening I have not been able to make any public comment on what took place based upon advice from my French lawyer. However, given the continuing delays at the French Prosecutor’s Office I should make my position clear. I completely deny the claims made against me and have fully co-operated with the police investigation.

A number of independent witnesses have given evidence and have told the police that I was subjected to verbal harassment and an unprovoked assault when an individual tried to hit me with a chair having taken violent exception to my look and my clothing. For these reasons I have commenced proceedings for defamation and the threats made against me.

However, I fully accept that the accusations made against me have greatly shocked and upset people. I must take responsibility for the circumstances in which I found myself and for allowing myself to be seen to be behaving in the worst possible light. I only have myself to blame and I know that I must face up to my own failures and that I must work hard to gain people’s understanding and compassion. To start this process I am seeking help and all I can hope for in time is to address the personal failure which led to these circumstances and try and earn people’s forgiveness.

I have fought my entire life against prejudice, intolerance and discrimination, having been subjected to it myself. In all my work my inspiration has been to unite people of every race, creed, religion and sexuality by celebrating their cultural and ethnic diversity through fashion. That remains my guiding light.

Anti-semitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologise for my behaviour in causing any offence.

It sounds like he’s only talking about the specific incident last Thursday night, and not about the tape of him saying that he loved Hitler. Interesting.

Photos courtesy of Fame.

John Galliano hates Jews, Prada handbags, and Asians. He loves Hitler and alcohol. Natalie Portman hates John Galliano, and loves defending rapists. And now Christian Dior’s parent company LVMH has just made the executive decision as to which side to come down on. Galliano is out. Good for them, honestly. I’m glad they didn’t drag this junk on and on over weeks or months.

French fashion house Christian Dior fired John Galliano on Tuesday after an online video clip circulated around the world showing its star designer shouting anti-Semitic abuse at people in a Paris bar.

Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman, who was signed to promote a Dior perfume, said in New York that she was “deeply shocked and disgusted” by the video and no longer wanted to be associated with him.

Galliano, one of the world’s most famous and long-lasting designers, was suspended by Dior on Friday, hours after a couple complained to police that he had shouted racist and anti-Semitic comments at them in a Paris bar.

A separate complaint was filed by another woman on Saturday for similar behavior from the British designer in October.

“I very firmly condemn what was said by John Galliano, which totally contradicts the values which have always been defended by Christian Dior,” Christian Dior Chief Executive Sidney Toledano said in a statement.

Paris prosecutors are expected to decide by the end of the week whether Galliano will face trial over Thursday’s incident in the trendy Marais neighborhood of Paris.

Galliano’s dismissal comes on the first day of Paris Fashion Week and three days before his Dior show was due to run on Friday.

It was not clear whether the show would go ahead, although on Monday, the press office of John Galliano, the designer’s own label, said his Sunday show was still on. Dior is the leading fashion house at LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group.

[From The New York Times]

Yes, now I’m wondering what will happen with the show. It sucks for Galliano and Dior that Galliano’s final collection is tainted by all of this stuff, because I bet that there was a lot of pretty stuff that would have sold well. Considering LVMH has handled the Galliano situation so quickly and effectively, I tend to think that this collection will just be swept under the rug. But we’ll see.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Yesterday, I saw a short video clip of Natalie Portman answering questions just after she won her Best Actress Oscar. Some journalist asked her about her association with the House of Dior – she’s the face of Miss Dior Cherie – and what her feelings were about the controversy surrounding Dior’s designer, John Galliano. Natalie’s publicist (or somebody else) short-stopped her answer, but she looked like she was prepared to say something. Now she has, coming on the heels of the video release of Galliano drunkenly saying that he loves Hitler. Natalie, who is Jewish and who was born in Israel, is seriously pissed off:

Oscar winner Natalie Portman today expressed her ‘disgust’ at British fashion designer John Galliano – saying she would ‘not be associated with him in any way’ because of his alleged anti-Semitism.

The 29-year-old actress, who won best actress at the Academy Awards on Sunday for her role in Black Swan, said she was shocked by a video in which Mr Galliano says ‘I love Hitler’ and says two women ‘should have been gassed’.

Ms Portman, who was born in Israel, is currently the face of a perfume by Christian Dior – the fashion label which has suspended Galliano as its chief designer pending an enquiry. The fact that she has now publicly attacked him means his future will be increasingly untenable, especially as he faces a prison sentence for his remarks.

Ms Portman said in a statement: ‘I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments that surfaced today. In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way. I hope at the very least, these terrible comments remind us to reflect and act upon combating these still-existing prejudices that are the opposite of all that is beautiful.’

Ms Portman frequently visits Paris, where Galliano is said to have launched anti-Semitic attacks on at least four women, because she is the face of Miss Dior Cherie, and is engaged to French ballet dancer Benjamin Millepied.

Galliano, past clients include Princess Diana and French First Lady Carla Bruni, visited a police station in the French capital on Monday to meet some of his accusers, but insisted: ‘I’m no racist.’

It followed the emerged of the video filmed at Le Perle, a Paris bar, last December in which Mr Galliano says to two unnamed Italian women : ‘People like you ought to be dead, your mothers, your forefathers would all be f*****g gassed. I love Hitler.’

One of their male companions started videoing the incident because he was so shocked.

An unnamed 48-year-old woman has also made a formal complaint to police that she was also subjected to anti-Semitic abuse by Galliano at the same bar last October. She is believed to have come forward after publicity about the case of Geraldine Bloch, 35, and Philppe Virgitti, 41. Last Thursday at La Perle he allegedly told Ms Bloch: ‘Dirty Jew, you should be dead.’ He is then said to have told Mr Virgitti, who is of Asian origin: ‘F***ing Asian b***tard, I’m going to kill you.’

Ironically none of the four women involved is Jewish – despite the alleged verbal assaults having taken place in Le Marais, Paris’s traditional Jewish quarter. On Friday Galliano launched a counter-claim in a civil court in Paris for defamation against Miss Bloch and Mr Virgitti. He met them at a Paris police station after being ordered to do so by prosecutors. A police source said the Public Prosecutor’s Office wanted to get them all together before deciding on whether to charge Galliano.

The detective added: ‘The accused has insisted that he is not a racist, and certainly not anti-Semitic. On the contrary, he is taking legal action against his accusers.’

During the meeting Galliano, who was brought up in South London, ‘denied all the charges against him’.

Galliano’s lawyer, Stephane Zerbib, insisted that the video on the internet has ‘no value’ and that Galliano has ‘never’ been anti-Semitic while working at Dior, which has a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards such behaviour. He faces being sacked by the fashion house following an investigation.

[From The Daily Mail]

I told you yesterday that the Galliano controversy had gotten to the point where the celebrities associated with Dior were now going to come under criticism unless they distanced themselves. While I don’t care for Natalie in general, I think her statement was completely appropriate and she showed the requisite amount of disgust. I even read that Natalie’s first choice for an Oscar gown was Dior, but that she pushed the Dior aside in favor of the plum-colored Rodarte at the last minute, given the Galliano controversy. Meanwhile, Sharon Stone and Nicole Kidman both wore Dior to the Oscars, and women like Marion Cotillard and Charlize Theron are still closely associated with the brand. Will those ladies have to make statements too?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Last Thursday night, John Galliano was arrested and held briefly for assault and anti-Semitic hate speech in Paris. Eyewitnesses and victims claimed that Galliano had said various crap about Asians, Jews and handbags, but Galliano’s rep pulled a Lohan and crack-denied all of that junk. Well… it turns out that Galliano really is a total dirt bag racist/anti-Semite. Shocking, I know. I shall call this “The Full Gibson”:

Drunk off his ass. For real. He’s slurring and making little drunk bitchfaces. Not that being drunk excuses saying “I love Hitler.” I mean, Mel Gibson didn’t even say that!

John Galliano’s troubles may have multiplied over the weekend as a second complaint of alleged anti-Semitism was formally lodged against Dior’s chief designer – and a bombshell video surfaced showing the designer declaring: “I love Hitler.”

On Friday, Galliano was suspended by Dior following his overnight arrest on charges of assault and making anti-Semitic and racial remarks to a couple during a reputed sparring match in the Paris café La Perle.

The undated video obtained and posted online by Britain’s Sun is said to have been filmed in the same café but not on the same evening as Galliano’s arrest.

In the cell-phone video, the designer, appearing to be seated at a bar, is seen insulting people. Slurring his words, he tells them, “People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f—ing gassed.”

During the Thursday night incident that led to arrest of Galliano, 50, and prompted a police probe, the designer allegedly assaulted a woman, pulled her hair and told her she had “a dirty Jew face.” He also reportedly hurled racial slurs at her companion, who is of partial Asian ethnicity.

Over the weekend, a second police complaint was lodged against Galliano, when a 48-year old woman came forward, asserting he had subjected her to a similar tirade at the same locale on Oct. 9. Several eyewitnesses from this earlier episode have confirmed to PEOPLE the authenticity of her charge.

On Monday afternoon, police in Paris’s third arrondisement (municipal district), where the incidents allegedly occurred, convened a hearing to draw together all the parties and their attorneys.

Though none of those allegedly on the receiving end of Galliano’s outbursts are, in fact, Jewish, under French law the making of anti-Semitic remarks qualifies as “incitement to racial prejudice,” a criminal offense that potentially carries a sentence of up to six months in prison.

[From People]

Okay, so this looks bad. This is the kind of “holy crap” moment where you’re going through your mind’s fashion files to think about which celebrity women always wear Galliano for Dior, and whether or not they too are horrible drunk anti-Semites. That’s where it’s going next – people are going to look at some of the major celebrities who have worked with Galliano over the years, and those celebrities are going to be asked, “Did you know Galliano was so horrible?” Imagine asking Nicole Kidman that. Or Charlize. Or Marion Cotillard.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

John Galliano is the new Mel Gibson. Only French English, and fancy, with a pirate mustache. Just FYI, in case you don’t know who John Galliano is – he’s the chief designer for the house of Christian Dior. He’s responsible for so many of the most exquisitely detailed gowns of the past two decades – like this one, one of my all-time favorites. But anyway…according to multiple sources, Galliano had some kind of Mel Gibson-esque breakdown in Paris last night when he started screaming at a couple outside of a café. He was screaming some anti-Semitic stuff, which kind of makes me wonder what is French for “oven-dodger” (one of Mel’s favorites, as told by Winona Ryder).

Designer John Galliano, who helms Christian Dior’s house, was briefly arrested in Paris on Thursday night for alleged assault and making anti-Semitic remarks, the AFP reports.

The incident occurred at a cafe in the Marais district where Galliano started yelling at a couple. A police source told the AFP, “For the moment we don’t know what led him to address the couple. We don’t yet know if they knew each other or not.”

Another police source told the Telegraph, “Witnesses said [Galliano] swore heavily, using anti-Jewish insults, before attacking a couple. Both have provided witness statements, as have a number of other people at the bar, including staff.”

Galliano was then taken back to the police station for a sobriety test and was determined to be slightly over the legal limit. According to Reuters, police accompanied him home and filed no charges, and, “One policeman said the outburst was prompted by stress ahead of fashion week, which starts next Monday and at which Dior’s show is always in the spotlight.”

Galliano was also in the spotlight this week after being announced as Kate Moss’ wedding dressmaker.

[From HuffPo]

I always forget that in some parts of the world, hate speech is against the law. So… is John Galliano some kind of horrible anti-Semite and no one has ever realized it before? Was he just drunk? Exhausted? Eh. I hate using alcohol or exhaustion as excuses for this kind of stupidity. You know what happens when I drink? I never make racial slurs. You know what happens when I’m really tired and stressed out? I never make racial slurs. So… is this just some isolated incident or are we going to find out that one of the most important designers in the world is a flaming anti-Semite?

Photos courtesy of WENN.