French actor Gerard Depardieu on Friday dropped a lawsuit against broadcaster France Televisions over a 2023 television report that portrayed him as making sexual comments about a young girl.
Depardieu, whose prolific film and television career includes 1990 comedy "Green Card" and Netflix series "Marseille", is the highest-profile figure caught up in France's response to the #MeToo movement.
The 77-year-old actor's decision to withdraw the lawsuit was announced by his new attorney, Delphine Meillet, at the start of a hearing before the Paris Criminal Court.
The court case focuses on a dispute between Depardieu and a television show that in December 2023 aired a report that dented his public image and sparked an uproar in France.
The episode, titled "The Fall of the Ogre", included footage of him repeatedly making sexual comments about women during a trip to North Korea in 2018.
In one section, he appears to make an obscene comment about a young girl riding a horse.
Outrage at the actor's behaviour peaked after the release of the previously unseen footage.
The actor argued he had never spoken in such a way about the girl.
The withdrawal of the lawsuit also applies to France Televisions President Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, the authors of the report, and the production company Hikari.
"France Televisions welcomes this withdrawal, which brings to an end two years of legal proceedings, controversy, and misinformation," the broadcaster said.
"Two expert analyses concluded that the actor had indeed made remarks of a sexual nature toward a young girl and ruled out any fraudulent manipulation of the footage," France Televisions added.
- 'Utterly disloyal' -
Speaking in court in October, Depardieu's previous lawyer, Jeremie Assous, had denounced the editing of the report as "utterly disloyal."
He had asserted that the lewd comments heard while a child was visible on screen actually referred to an adult woman who was not shown.
In 2023, President Emmanuel Macron said Depardieu was the target of a "manhunt."
"Everyone is ganging up on the same person, saying the worst possible things based on a news report, without even giving him a chance to defend himself," he said at the time.
He suggested that the footage might have been doctored. "I saw the footage. I also heard there was controversy over the audio not matching the images."
Macron's intervention at the time sparked controversy.
At the October hearing, Depardieu's defence team cited Macron's support.
"The president is, after all, better informed than others," said Assous, who has since been removed from the actor's defence team.
The tarnished film icon has been accused of sexual assault or rape by around 20 women.
A Paris court last year handed Depardieu an 18-month suspended sentence after convicting him of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.
The court also ordered that the actor register as a sex offender.
Depardieu has filed an appeal.
"I'm vulgar, rude, foul-mouthed, I'll accept that," he has told the court.
But he added that he did not "touch."
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