French actor and director Nicolas Bedos was given a one-year suspended prison sentence by a Paris criminal court on Thursday on charges of sexual assault and sexual harassment while under the influence of alcohol.
Cannes regular Bedos – whose recent credits include La Belle Epoque, OSS 177: From Africa With Love and Mascarade – was tried on three allegations.
The first complaint was lodged in June 2023, by a 25-year-old woman, who accused Bedos of approaching her in a club and putting his hand on her crotch.
According to her account, he insulted her when she repelled his advances, and his behavior resulted in him being escorted from the club by a security guard.
The 45-year-old actor was reported to have told investigators at the time that if the gesture had happened it was “accidental”.
After a court hearing was set for September 2024, two more accusations came to light, one for sexual assault, by a waitress at the same club who accused Bedos of kissing her on the neck while inebriated in May 2023.
The third, classed as sexual harassment, dates back to an evening at a friend’s house in 2018, during which he allegedly followed one of the female guests to the bathroom and tried to embrace her, and then spat in her face when she resisted his advances.
In the backdrop, these accusations encouraged other women to come forward with allegations against Bedos, dating back to the 1990s.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office was reported to have opened a preliminary investigation into the accusations, which it then dropped due to the statute of limitations.
The director had just wrapped the Prime Video Show Alphonse starring Oscar winner Jean Dujardin when the first accusations emerged. The platform released the series with little fanfare and Bedos disappeared from the public eye.
Former partner, actress Elsa Zylberstein told Sunday newspaper La Tribune Dimanche in the lead up to the trial that the actor stopped going out, moved out of Paris and no longer touched a drop of alcohol.
“He examined his conscience and is calmly waiting for the trial,” she said.
At Thursday’s trial, Bedos denied the accusations and said he was not a sexual predator, suggesting his behavior had been down to excessive alcohol.
“I have long been aware that alcohol is an aggravating factor and I’ve sought treatment. I was aware that I could be odious, pathetic, aggressive with men and women, with everyone.”
“I’ve lost nearly everything with this story. If I’m here, it’s to say I am not a sexual predator and never will be,” he said.
“There was no sexual intention, no desire to impose something sexual on someone… I embrace everyone, waiters, men… it’s got nothing to do with genre so to speak.”
The sentence also carries a two-year probation period and obligation to seek treatment. On delivering the sentence, the prosector said, “Can we be mistaken? No, there is no ambiguity.”