Overview
- Paris judges spent much of Thursday hearing the case, with Gérard Depardieu absent due to illness and represented by his lawyer as the court examined the contested sequence.
- France Télévisions denies any tampering and says a bailiff authenticated the passage, asserting the remarks clearly referred to the girl seen on screen.
- An expert report filed in the separate rape investigation found the sexually suggestive comments were addressed to a girl on a pony, and a court has ordered a fresh technical review to map all editing steps.
- Depardieu and writer Yann Moix argue the words concerned an off-camera adult as part of a fiction project and accuse the program of a fraudulent montage.
- Hikari, which filmed the 2018 footage, has launched proceedings for calumny, false attestation and attempted fraud, and Depardieu separately has an 18‑month suspended sentence under appeal and faces a rape trial referral.