{"id":21965,"date":"2011-03-12T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2011-03-12T08:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=21965"},"modified":"2011-03-16T07:57:40","modified_gmt":"2011-03-16T07:57:40","slug":"i-don%e2%80%99t-believe-he%e2%80%99s-racist-or-anti-semitic-i-think-hes-very-ill-john-gallianos-alleged-victim-defends-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=21965","title":{"rendered":"I don\u2019t believe he\u2019s racist or anti-Semitic – I think he’s very ill’: John Galliano’s alleged victim defends designer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peter Allen \u2013 Daily Mail March 11, 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n

A key witness in the anti-Semitism case against British fashion designer John Galliano today declared: ‘He’s no racist.’<\/span><\/p>\n

The 50-year-old designer faces up to six months in prison after launching a tirade of allegedly racist abuse against fellow drinkers in a Paris bar.<\/span><\/p>\n

But today Philippe Virgitti, a 41-year-old Frenchman who was involved in one of the two incidents due to be examined by a court this summer, broke his silence about the allegations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Virgitti, a receptionist from an Asian background, said of Galliano: ‘I don’t think he’s racist or anti-Semitic. I just think he’s very ill.’<\/span><\/p>\n

The claim, made to Le Parisian newspaper, will be looked at closely by magistrates and could even see Galliano’s trial abandoned<\/span><\/p>\n

A legal source close to the case explained: ‘Mr Galliano did not physically hurt anybody – the allegations are simply about what he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘If he was solely involved in some drunken banter, rather than anything overtly racist, then there is no case against him.’<\/span><\/p>\n

In his newspaper interview, Mr Virgitti told how he and his girlfriend Geraldine Bloch, a 35-year-old art historian, were enjoying a drink at La Perla bar late last month.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘We were having a beer when a man I didn’t know came and sat beside us.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘He began to get aggressive straight away, turning to my companion and saying: “Your voice is annoying me, you’re speaking too loudly”.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘Then the whole thing started and lasted for forty five minutes. He was staring at us, trying to humiliate us, and insulting us in any way he could.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘I asked the bar staff to step in and help but they didn’t want to get involved because he was one of their regular clients and lived locally.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘On the contrary, they actually brought him another mojito even though he was already drunk. If I hadn’t called the police, a fight would have broken out.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘I didn’t want to change tables because we were there first. I just wanted him to leave us in peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘He had already been drinking before he got to the bar. He seemed psychologically disturbed.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked directly if Galliano had made anti-Semitic comments, Mr Virgitti said: ‘Yes, though I’m not convinced now that he really meant them.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘I don’t think he’s a racist or anti-Semitic. I just think he’s very ill. This whole business has left us traumatised. At the time I didn’t even know that it was John Galliano.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘It was only the next morning when I looked on my computer and realised who it was.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘But ultimately it was just a bust-up in a bar and I hope this business does not end up destroying him.’<\/span><\/p>\n

In June Galliano will stand trial on charges of ‘public insults based on the origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity’ against three people – Mr Virgitti, Miss Bloch and an unnamed woman who complained about a similar incident at La Perle in October 2010.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Galliano has denied any wrong-doing, saying: ‘Anti-Semitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologise for my behaviour in causing any offence.’<\/span><\/p>\n

But after the alleged attack on Mr Virgitti and Miss Bloch a video emerged of Galliano telling two young Italian women: ‘People like you ought to be dead, your mothers, your forefathers would all be fucking gassed. I love Hitler.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nonetheless, sick or not he must be made an example of <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies","category-Miscellaneous"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21965"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22277,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21965\/revisions\/22277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}