Viewers of a French gameshow are calling for one of the guests to be prosecuted for sexual assault after he kissed a womanâs breast on live TV. Jean-Michel Maire asked a 21-year-old model who goes by Soraya for a kiss; when she firmly and repeatedly said no, he planted one on her chest instead. He has apologized, sort of.
Maire, a journalist who once covered crime and war in Bosnia before descending to these embarrassing depths, is the latest in a series of very public sexual harassment and assault scandals in France. A TV host named Jean-Marc Morandini was recently indicted for corruption of a minor, accused of pressuring an underage person to perform a sex act on video during a (suspect-sounding) casting call at his home. Morandini is also accused of sexually harassing at least five of his coworkers. The scandals extend to politics as well: Denis Baupin, a senior member of parliament, resigned in May after eight female colleagues accused him of sexual harassment. The BBC reports another member of parliament, Jean-Michel Baylet, is accused of hitting a female colleague in the face.
But Maireâs assault on Soraya generated particular outrage, happening as it did on live television. The two were participating in a âre-enactmentâ of Kim Kardashiansâs robbery on the gameshow 35 Hours of Baba when, the publication Metro reports, the programs host Cyril Hanouna started telling Soraya to let Maire kiss her:
Hanouna started urging Soraya to let Maire give her a kiss in return for ârescuingâ her.
Soraya explicitly and firmly says ânoâ â Maire tries to say, âShe said yes!â but Soraya repeats again, âI said noâ.
Hanouna starts asking her why she wonât let Maire kiss her, and she says that itâs because people are watching. Maire then suggests âWell we can do it backstageâŚâ prompting laughter from Hanouna and the audience.
Maire then leans in for a kiss, and Soraya turns her face away.
Instead of leaving her alone as she had expressly asked, Maire then bends down and kisses her right breast instead.
In a video clip of the incident, Soraya looks briefly shocked before adjusting her face into a professional smile. She is now, naturally, being accused of using the incident to get âattention,â although she hasnât filed a complaint against Maire and has in fact defended him, saying on Facebook heâs a good person despite his âmasculine impulses.â
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The BBC reports that more than 250 viewers, including womenâs rights minister Laurence Rossignol, filed complaints with the French version of the FCC. The incident is reviving debate about the pervasiveness and perceived acceptability of sexual harassment in French culture. Meanwhile Maire, if I understand this correctly, tweeted a semi-joking apology about his grabby little monkey hands: