Perfume maker Guerlain faces court for dropping N-bomb on television

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There are social consequences for making flamboyantly ignorant remarks in public, especially if you're a prominent figure. That's punishment enough. It's outrageous to throw a person in jail for expressing his or her point of view, no matter how noxious it may be.

Free expression is infinitely more important than political correctness.
 
I kind of like him. Dude was just talking about how he had to grind and hustle. If I was there I would gave him some dab.
 
shuri said:
It's just an expression that people said back then.
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it's the follow up comment that makes it much less innocent.


I'm not in favor of something like this being criminalized though.
 
I, like others, feel like it was a legitimate slip of the tongue. Myabe it's because I'm from the deep south (new orleans), but a lot of the older generations use this phrase, so maybe I'm less sensitive to it. Of course, it still depresses me t hear people say it, but I'm a bit more forgiving of older generations. Also, to have a trial over it is pretty ridiculous.

On a side note, not a big fan of Guerlain perfumes, but their make up is godly. I've never seen such expensive make up that is actually worth the money. If I could afford it, I would buy their foundation and primer, but at $78 and $70, they are far too pricey. My pure indulgence brand.
 
Kurtofan said:
Godammit I am so sick of how smug people here are about the subject.
There are hate speech laws in most Western countries, America is the exception not the norm.
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We take freedom of speech very seriously here, and for good reason IMO.

The idea of jailtime even being discussed for this is crazy to me.
 
Kurtofan said:
Godammit I am so sick of how smug people here are about the subject.
There are hate speech laws in most Western countries, America is the exception not the norm.
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Ugh, really just using a slur in conversation is hate speech? He wasn't calling for the death of all blacks or any of that bull, get real.
 
Monocle said:
There are social consequences for making flamboyantly ignorant remarks in public, especially if you're a prominent figure. That's punishment enough. It's outrageous to throw a person in jail for expressing his or her point of view, no matter how noxious it may be.

Free expression is infinitely more important than political correctness.
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THIS. I mean, I've been called "N----" to my face. And not in that nice "Yo, what's good my N---" kinda way. I mean that "Back the way you came, boy!" kinda way. No bullshit, it hurts...just to have my entire humanity stripped away to nothing but the pigmentation in my skin.

But at the end of the day we shouldn't put people in prison because they said something we don't like. That's a slippery slope that can lead to the suppression of speech for all.
 
speedline said:
Ugh, really just using a slur in conversation is hate speech? He wasn't calling for the death of all blacks or any of that bull, get real.
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The insinuation that blacks don't work is definitely hateful. Unless you think that comes from the same place in a persons heart where kittens and rainbows come from.....
 
I find it humorous that these laws actually work in opposite of how they were intended. Instead of publicly shaming this man via the media and public opinion and boycotting his product, he becomes a somewhat sympathetic figure because the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

American justice can be pretty backwards, but France is right up there with us.

I just read an article recently about some provocateurs that restored a historical clock without permission (because the government had quit maintaining it). They were caught (when they admitted to it) then the courts ordered that the clock be disabled again and the people be fined thousands of dollars in 'damages'.
 
Mammoth Jones said:
The insinuation that blacks don't work is definitely hateful. Unless you think that comes from the same place in a persons heart where kittens and rainbows come from.....
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I could be mistaken, but I'm fairly confident that he was using it saying that he actually worked really hard. No excuse for him but he's old and obviously from wealth and lives in a different world, this was a lot more ignorance than hate. Let the media and public have their way with him, to send him to trial is a little crazy.
 
Here's what the public prosecutor said:

"I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of his regrets" said public prosecutor Alexandre Auber to him. But it is undeniable that these words, "insulting and racist", constituted a "public nuisance" ("trouble à l'ordre public"). "It is a slip-up at the very least, but certainly a (ship)wreck" he added, regretting that Guerlain had "locked black people into two stereotypes which are degrading and -apparently- contradictory.": the image of the black slave, exploited to death and the cliché, "condescending, contemptuous of the colorful idler, of the black (man) who's a slacker by nature." He demanded against Guerlain a fine which takes into account his income, "a minimum of 7,500 euros ($9,964). The deliberation will take place on March 29.
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http://lci.tf1.fr/france/justice/pr...uerlain-regrette-une-imbecillite-6985213.html
 
the network should make people sign a contract saying they won't say racist stuff. the law shouldn't get involved.

Anyone who defends this is a moron. free speech is paramount.
 
It's already been said, but I don't like the fact that he's on trial for this.

There needs to be greater freedom of speech. If we can put people in jail for saying things that could harm others, we risk censoring the right to freedom of expression. Too dangerous.
 
XOiU4.jpg
 
New racist slip-up of the perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain?

According to France Info, the perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain is targeted by a new complaint for racist speech, while when he is still on trial for his remarks about "niggers".
According to the radio, Jean-Paul Guerlain had verbally attacked Eurostar agents at the Gare du Nord in Paris on February 24.

Since he arrived late, his access to the train was denied.

Angry, he then attacked the three officers who came to help him travelling in a wheelchair.
Two of the officers were black, and the third had Asian origins.

All three say that the perfumer told them, very angry: "France is a shitty country, it's a shitty company and we're only served by immigrants."

Shocked, the officers warned their superiors and complained. The case is in the hands of the Paris prosecutor's office.

A witness said that a relative of Jean-Paul Guerlain, who saw what happened, told him "to shut up, to stop saying nonsense in front of everyone, while the former (legal) procedure is not yet complete."
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http://www.jeanmarcmorandini.com/ar...-raciste-du-parfumeur-jean-paul-guerlain.html
 
First time seeing this thread.

Describing the work that went into the creation of one of his famous scents, Guerlain said: 'I worked like a nigger', adding 'I don't know if niggers have always worked like that, but anyway.'
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Wow! Just fucking wow!

How can you be that out of touch with reality? I thought Prince Philip was bad, but he at least still manages to be somewhat amusing. :/
 
leadbelly said:
First time seeing this thread.



Wow! Just fucking wow!

How can you be that out of touch with reality? I thought Prince Philip was bad, but he at least still manages to be somewhat amusing. :/
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As stupid as he is, I don't believe he deserves jail time. Let the stupid old man be and just point and laugh at him.
 
Fucking moron. How can you defend him and say that he's just "out of touch"? It's not as if he's been living without tv or without black people around him his whole life. He knows we're in the 21st century and that racism, in any way, is frowned upon.

Let him rot in jail for the rest of his years I say. The world is better off without him and anyone who feels the same way.
 
eravulgaris said:
Fucking moron. How can you defend him and say that he's just "out of touch"? It's not as if he's been living without tv or without black people around him his whole life. He knows we're in the 21st century and that racism, in any way, is frowned upon.

Let him rot in jail for the rest of his years I say.
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For using racist language?
 
Log4Girlz said:
For using racist language?
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What should they do then? A fine? the guy is perfume maker and will have tons of cash. He won't care that way. He should definitely not get years, but a few months would perhaps make him notice.

And like someone before me already said - it's not just about using racist language. It's about doing that in television.
 
jimi_dini said:
What should they do then? A fine? the guy is perfume maker and will have tons of cash. He won't care that way. He should definitely not get years, but a few months would perhaps make him notice.
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Perhaps nothing at all? Let the negative stigma of being a racist be enough?
 
Log4Girlz said:
As stupid as he is, I don't believe he deserves jail time. Let the stupid old man be and just point and laugh at him.
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Well I liken him to Prince Philip in that he is probably a product of his generation. In other words, he is completely out of touch and hasn't fully grasped how much the world has changed.

The difference with Prince Philip is, although being offensive, it is never really at that level or that blunt, and somehow manages to be kind of amusing. Not that what he is necessarily saying is funny in itself or should be treated as funny, just how completely politically incorrect he is and that he has absolutely no idea what he is saying. The context of it.
 
jimi_dini said:
That will definitely teach him
not
. If it was possible, one could also ban him from ever being on television again. But that's not practical.
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American laws get judged all the time, so I will judge this French one. It is stupid. At the very worst he hurt someone's feelings. I don't support jail time for those who insult some foreign royalty on some blog in Colorado or making heretical statements about Mohammed.
 
jimi_dini said:
Using that logic, everyone could call black people "N---" and that would be totally fine then? Racism spreads. That's the problem. Do it here on NeoGAF - instant ban. Like it should be.
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Now he's going to say: "It wouldn't be fine, but I don't see him going to jail for it."

Impossible to prove your point to this guy.
 
jimi_dini said:
Using that logic, everyone could call black people "N---" and that would be totally fine then? Racism spreads. That's the problem. Do it here on NeoGAF - instant ban. Like it should be.
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Yet I wouldn't be fined or sent to jail in the united states. If someone had access to my personal data I could be publicly humiliated and potentially lose my job. Everyone can call whoever whatever here, and yet the stigma of being a racist is enough to keep most people in check.
 
I find it ironic how Americans play the Free Speech card but then ban people for 'trolling' *insert favourite videogame company* on message boards.
 
T-0800 said:
I find it ironic how Americans play the Free Speech card but then ban people for 'trolling' *insert favourite videogame company* on message boards.
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There always seems to be one person that gets confused by the differences between 'private' and 'public'.
 
jimi_dini said:
Because it's just a forum on the internet. Also the US allows hate speech.
Strangely some other seven words are not allowed on television. Although I have no clue what would happen, if one mentions them on television.
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Just fines for that station, not even for the guy who says them. It would only be the station responsible for not bleeping it during the time delay between filming and broadcasting.

This law is stupid. This doddering old man does not deserve jail time, though he is legally facing it.
 
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