Galliano to face Paris police as new video emerges

[February 28, 2011]  PARIS (AP) -- Fashion designer John Galliano is appearing Monday at a Paris police station to face accusations that he made illegal anti-Semitic slurs, his defense lawyer said, as a new video emerged of Galliano praising Adolf Hitler.

The famed Gilbraltar-born designer was to face off with a couple that has accused him of making an anti-Semitic insult during a spat Thursday at a trendy Paris cafe while he sat alone sipping a mojito.

French officials said a hospital test found that Galliano had 1.1 milligrams of alcohol per liter of blood -- more than twice the legal limit to drive in France -- after the incident.

Christian Dior has suspended Galliano, its creative director, pending an investigation, citing its "zero-tolerance" policy on anti-Semitism. The fashion house is scheduled to present its fall-winter 2011-2012 ready-to-wear show on Friday as part of Paris fashion week.

Defense lawyer Stephane Zerbib said Galliano was appearing Monday afternoon in a Paris police commissariat. Officials said Galliano was expected to meet face-to-face with his accusers.

In the wake of media reports on the incident, another woman came forward Saturday to police accusing Galliano of similar anti-Semitic insults at her in October at the same restaurant -- La Perle, in the Marais district.

On Monday, a video posted on the Web site of British daily The Sun showed Galliano arguing with a couple at La Perle. It was unclear when the video was recorded, but in it, he was dressed differently than he was on Thursday.

At one point in the video, starting in mid-conversation, a woman's voice asks Galliano, "Are you blond, with blue eyes?"

Galliano, speaking in slurred speech, replied: "No, but I love Hitler, and people like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would be ... gassed and ... dead."

The newspaper said neither of the people speaking with Galliano were Jewish.

Zerbib said he didn't know when the video was filmed, and "there's no comment on that ... What matters isn't what's on the Internet, what matters are the testimonies and the hearings."

"What's on the Internet doesn't have much value," he said.

Making anti-Semitic remarks is illegal in France, and can bring up to six months in prison. Some public figures have been convicted on such charges in the past, but are usually given only suspended sentences.

The lawyer stuck to his comments to Associated Press Television News on Friday that Galliano "never made an anti-Semitic remark in more than 10 years at Dior."

Zerbib said then the designer has denied the couple's accusations, and has filed a countersuit against them for alleged defamation, threats and insults.

[Associated Press; By JAMEY KEATEN]

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