The host took legal action after the broadcast of a video containing extracts from the TF1 program “To take it or to leave it”, broadcast in the 2000s.
Arthur’s lawyer denounced “slanderous cyberharassment, organized to damage image and security”. Photo CHOGNARD / TF1
By Télérama, with AFP
Published on January 16, 2025 at 11:21 a.m.
UAn investigation into aggravated public insults was opened in Paris after a complaint filed by host Arthur, at the heart of a controversy following the broadcast of a video where he was seen kissing a woman by surprise, said the prosecution, requested by the AFP. The investigations focus on “comments posted during the online campaign against him”said the public prosecutor.
The video, initially published in December by the Luxembourg feminist media The cheeky one on Instagram, denounced “sexist behavior” from the host at the helm of the game show Take it or leave it on TF1 in the 2000s. We can notably see Arthur kissing a candidate by surprise or whispering in another’s ear: “I always liked women who resisted me” or “The more you resist me, the more I will tame you”.
-Anti-Semitic messages
Asked by Le Parisianthe host had invoked at the end of December “another era”. “I was quite close to the candidates”he declared, conceding that“today, we could no longer animate in the same way”. These extracts circulated widely on social networks, sometimes leading to anti-Semitic messages against the host-producer, such as “the Jew risks nothing in France, he can afford anything”.
He filed a complaint in December and the National Center for the Fight against Online Hate (PNLH) opened an investigation for aggravated public insults “by a discriminatory motive linked to religion”entrusted to the Personal Crime Suppression Brigade (BRDP).
His lawyer, Jade Dousselin, denounced to the AFP a “slanderous cyberharassment, organized to harm image and security” of Arthur, Jacques Essebag of his real name. The latter had also filed a complaint for infringement of the representation of the person by video editing.
He also filed a civil suit to ask the social network A hearing scheduled for Wednesday on the subject was postponed until February 18.
The host also assigned the Meta group (Facebook, Instagram, etc.), according to a source close to the matter. “Since this digital raid, he and his family have been under serious threat, his security has been reinforced”Arthur’s entourage assured AFP. In November 2023, the host had already mentioned a strengthening of his protection since the bloody Hamas attack in Israel on October 7.
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