The Paris court found host Jean-Marc Morandini guilty of sexual harassment against a young actor and sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended, on Tuesday August 29. The court also condemned the production company “Don’t Skip!” Production” (NZPP), of which Jean-Marc Morandini is the sole manager, for “hidden work”. His lawyers said he would appeal the conviction. The TV channel that employs him, CNews, said it was keeping its host on the air: “Jean-Marc Morandini is appealing so the presumption of innocence applies.”
In August 2015, a young actor, Gabriel P., had received two emails from Catherine Leclerc (in reality Jean-Marc Morandini under a pseudonym), pseudo-casting director of a web-series of which Jean-Marc Morandini was the producer, asking him if he was ready to give fellatio to Mr. Morandini, “who is not just anyone”. The young man, anxious not to miss the opportunity to become an actor, replied: “Obviously I’m not going to be picky about nudity (…). I will obey what you order me. »
“Through electronic exchanges, Jean-Marc Morandini’s requests went crescendo. Gabriel [the 19-year-old victim at the time of the events] was only responding to repeated requests while he was caught in a psychological gear set up by the defendant, “said the president of the 31st correctional chamber by reading the judgment of the court. The host will have to pay a fine of 10,000 euros and compensate the young victim up to 13,000 euros, in particular for image damage.
“The taste for manipulation”, says the prosecutor
Regarding concealed work, actors had filmed a few episodes without being paid or declared to social organizations. They were finally paid in August 2016, a month after the revelation of the affair by the magazine Les Inrocks. In her submissions, the prosecutor, Anne Proust, denounced the host’s “taste for manipulation”.
In December, the host was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence with a two-year care obligation and his registration in the file of perpetrators of sexual or violent offenses (Fijais) for acts of “corruption of minors” committed against three teenagers between 2009 and 2016, during sexual electronic exchanges and a casting call at his home. He also appealed against this conviction.
