The “crazy look” of Gilbert Rozon… She escaped by running into the street

“I felt something inside me that woke me from my sleep. Someone was behind me. He was hitting me in the pelvis. I felt my pajamas inside me. I was terrified. I thought a bandit had broken into the apartment and that I was going to die. I turned around and saw that it was Gilbert Rozon. He had a crazy look. I then understood that I was not going to die but that I was going to be raped. »

This would have happened in 1991. Julie Snyder was then 23 years old. The bubbly young presenter is at the dawn of an already remarkable career. She was in Paris, invited like other Quebec journalists by Just for Laughs, which that year launched a young comedian who was a favorite of the public with his improbable grimaces: Michel Courtemanche.

I remember being very proud of the success of this Quebec artist in Francesaid Julie Snyder 33 years later in room 16.3 of the Montreal courthouse, where she testified during the civil trial brought by nine women who are claiming damages from the ex-boss of Just for Laughs for alleged sexual assault.

Despite the years that separate this 57-year-old woman from that dark Parisian night, the memories have not faded and the emotions are still on edge. Julie Snyder is not one of the plaintiffs in the Gilbert Rozon trial, but like a few other women, she agreed to add her stone to the body of evidence to demonstrate that there was a repetition of the behavior alleged against Mr. Rozon.

During this stay in Paris, Julie Snyder learned that the broadcaster of To go out pull the page of this show. In order to cheer her up, Julie Snyder’s French friends whom she knew during her romantic relationship with singer Patrick Bruel invite her to stay in Europe rather than return to Quebec and go skiing in the Alps. a few days later. She accepts.

In the meantime, a friend and colleague of Julie Snyder, Marie-Hélène Roy, who is no longer in this world, suggested that she go and sleep at the Just for Laughs apartment in Paris, where Madeleine Carreau, then director of the communications in Gilbert Rozon’s company. However, Mrs. Carreau leaves the scene and announces to Julie Snyder that Gilbert Rozon is coming.

In the evening, Gilbert Rozon and Julie Snyder chat nicely and the young host retires to her room to sleep.

The awakening is brutal. Tremolos in the voice, Julie Snyder described the crazy look of his assailant. It wasn’t the same person, I didn’t recognize him. Julie Snyder then gave thanks to her survival instinct. She explained to Superior Court Judge Chantal Tremblay, who is hearing this case, that she used trickery to escape Gilbert Rozon’s attack. She told him she had to go to the bathroom. Then, when she walked out of that room, she grabbed her purse and ran out into the street.

She remembers seeing Gilbert Rozon, naked on the bed, who masturbated, his gaze in a trance.

I said to him: “Gilbert, you’re sick!”

Responding to questions from Me Bruce Johnston, lawyer for the plaintiffs, the accomplished businesswoman, dressed in an impeccable black pantsuit, gave the court a brief portrait of her childhood in a family where violence reigned. I entered CEGEP with a black eye and I was at the top of my class. I told myself that the only way to get through this was to succeed.

It is for this reason that Julie Snyder waited years before speaking about the alleged assault suffered at the hands of the accused.

If I had spoken out, if I had denounced him, I would have lost my career. I would have been attacked and, what’s more, I would have professionally paid the price for denouncing.

Julie Snyder reminded the court that at the time, Gilbert Rozon was omnipotent in the cultural sector, that he frequented politicians, that he was the agent of sacred monsters of the showbiz like Charles Trenet and that, as a host of cultural programs, she had assessed that the risk of speaking was too great.

As the witness spoke about the reasons for her silence, one of the complainants in the courtroom, actress Patricia Tulasne, began to cry. Activist Laure Waridel, who came to support the complainants, stroked her back to soothe her. During this emotional moment, Gilbert Rozon fiddled with his elegant tie and took notes.

If Julie Snyder did not officially file a complaint for a long time against the ex-humor mogul, she nevertheless confronted him. I told him, “You need to get treatment, Gilbert.”

The witness thus spoke of a singular encounter. Julie Snyder is then in psychoanalysis to heal from her traumas. Gilbert Rozon has just pleaded guilty to sexual assault against a dealer at Manoir Rouville-Campbell. It’s 1998.

During a meeting, Julie Snyder evokes the memory of a particular dialogue. She would have told him: Gilbert, you are not responsible for the abuse you suffered as a child, but you are responsible for reproducing it.

The host did not specify the nature of the abuse that Gilbert Rozon allegedly suffered as a child. Gilbert thanked me. He told me it was excellent advice for me to give him.

The 350th celebrations^e anniversary of Montreal mentioned at the trial

Then came the tidal wave that we know. The Weinstein affair, the #MeToo movement, the journalists who are starting to dig. The stories that emerge.

Julie Snyder said an acquaintance told her that the daily The Duty was preparing to publish a devastating article on Gilbert Rozon. Spontaneously, I thought it would be economic in nature.

Before the judge, Julie Snyder then recounted that she and her team had been approached to assist Gilbert Rozon on the occasion of the 350th celebrations.^e anniversary of Montreal, of which Rozon was the commissioner appointed by the City. However, Julie Snyder was surprised by certain accounting manipulations, which she found questionable at the very least.

I told my team: “We’re not touching that. It smells like fling-flang full face and, one day, it will come out in the open”she said.

The reports on the behavior of Gilbert Rozon were broadcast. One day, Julie Snyder went to a police station and officially filed a complaint. What she recounted Thursday in court about her time in Paris in 1991, Julie Snyder has already told on her show The week of 4 Juliewhich earned him a defamation suit from Gilbert Rozon.

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Before the hearing began, Thursday morning, I met Gilbert Rozon in the courthouse cafeteria. He stood up and shook my hand courteously. In complete transparency, I must point out that my ex-partner already worked for Just for Laughs as a scriptwriter before the scandal broke and that, in this context, I met his boss a few times. Gilbert Rozon told me that he would not give me an interview, but he complained that in his opinion, the media reported the complainants’ story more extensively than the cross-examinations done by his lawyers.

As he left the courtroom, Gilbert Rozon responded to a question from a colleague and said he is suing Julie Snyder for defamation because what she said on television is false.

The trial of Gilbert Rozon continues Friday with the testimony of Véronique Moreau, daughter of Jean-Guy Moreau and sister of Sophie Moreau, who testified earlier this week.