Anger after presenter kisses woman's breasts on live TV
The Local France - [email protected]
Published: 17 Oct, 2016 CET.
Updated: Mon 17 Oct 2016 11:55 CET
Hundreds of viewers in France have lodged formal complaints after a male presenter kissed a woman's breast without her consent on a live TV show.
A TV programme that was trying to set a record for longest continuous episode made headlines over the weekend for a different reason.
The show, which streamed on the C8 channel live for 35 hours, prompted outcries after panelist Jean-Michel Maire kissed a woman named Soraya on her breast.
The pair had just performed a skit based on the recent robbery of Kim Kardashian in Paris. Following the performance, host Cyril Hanouna urged Maire to kiss Soraya on the cheek.
She quite clearly refuses saying "I said no", to which Maire suggest the pair can share a kiss backstage.
She eventually turns her head away as the man goes in for a kiss on her right cheek.
Realizing he can't kiss her cheek, he promptly leans down - without warning - and plants a kiss on her right breast instead.
Many flocked to social media to condemn the actions of the panelist, some calling the kiss a sexual assault.
The minister for women's rights, Laurence Rossignol, also took to Twitter to denounce the act.
"Even in an entertainment programme, when a woman says no it means no," she wrote, adding that she too had filed a complaint.
Même dans une émission de divertissement, quand une femme dit non c'est non. J'ai saisi le CSA de cette agression sexuelle #TPMP
— laurence rossignol (@laurossignol) October 14, 2016
Others joined in.
"No means NO! That's sexual assault. A woman's body is not men's property," wrote one Twitter user.
"Only in France, the burkini is not allowed but you can kiss a woman's breast on national TV," wrote another.
The French government's Superior Council of Audiovisual, which manages the country's television regulation, said it had received over 250 complaints about the episode. That number was expected to have risen.
It added that it had launched an investigation into the matter.
For her part, the woman who was kissed took to Facebook on Friday to post a picture of herself with the panelist in question, with text defending his actions.
"Stop having a go at this man, he is very respectable and doesn't deserve any punishment despite his masculine impulses," she wrote.
She has said she will not be pressing charges
France and indeed the world are at a time of heightened awareness of sexual assault and sexual harassment, not least after comments from US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who recently came under fire for his words about women.
"Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything," said Trump in words that caused outrage around the world.
Sexual assault makes headlines in France all too regularly.
The French had to be reminded last year that sexual harassment is illegal, as the government launched an advertising campaign to crack down on the scourge of sex pests on public transport.
In fact, a poll published last year claimed 100 percent of the women surveyed had been victims of sexual harassment on public transport.
Another survey earlier this year revealed over half of French women change the way they dress to avoid being the victim of sexual harassment or assault.
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A TV programme that was trying to set a record for longest continuous episode made headlines over the weekend for a different reason.
The show, which streamed on the C8 channel live for 35 hours, prompted outcries after panelist Jean-Michel Maire kissed a woman named Soraya on her breast.
The pair had just performed a skit based on the recent robbery of Kim Kardashian in Paris. Following the performance, host Cyril Hanouna urged Maire to kiss Soraya on the cheek.
She quite clearly refuses saying "I said no", to which Maire suggest the pair can share a kiss backstage.
She eventually turns her head away as the man goes in for a kiss on her right cheek.
Realizing he can't kiss her cheek, he promptly leans down - without warning - and plants a kiss on her right breast instead.
Many flocked to social media to condemn the actions of the panelist, some calling the kiss a sexual assault.
The minister for women's rights, Laurence Rossignol, also took to Twitter to denounce the act.
"Even in an entertainment programme, when a woman says no it means no," she wrote, adding that she too had filed a complaint.
Même dans une émission de divertissement, quand une femme dit non c'est non. J'ai saisi le CSA de cette agression sexuelle #TPMP
— laurence rossignol (@laurossignol) October 14, 2016
Others joined in.
"No means NO! That's sexual assault. A woman's body is not men's property," wrote one Twitter user.
"Only in France, the burkini is not allowed but you can kiss a woman's breast on national TV," wrote another.
The French government's Superior Council of Audiovisual, which manages the country's television regulation, said it had received over 250 complaints about the episode. That number was expected to have risen.
It added that it had launched an investigation into the matter.
For her part, the woman who was kissed took to Facebook on Friday to post a picture of herself with the panelist in question, with text defending his actions.
"Stop having a go at this man, he is very respectable and doesn't deserve any punishment despite his masculine impulses," she wrote.
She has said she will not be pressing charges
France and indeed the world are at a time of heightened awareness of sexual assault and sexual harassment, not least after comments from US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who recently came under fire for his words about women.
"Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything," said Trump in words that caused outrage around the world.
Sexual assault makes headlines in France all too regularly.
The French had to be reminded last year that sexual harassment is illegal, as the government launched an advertising campaign to crack down on the scourge of sex pests on public transport.
In fact, a poll published last year claimed 100 percent of the women surveyed had been victims of sexual harassment on public transport.
Another survey earlier this year revealed over half of French women change the way they dress to avoid being the victim of sexual harassment or assault.
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