Christian Dior fires John Galliano for anti-Semitic remarks
(CBS/AP) French fashion house Christian Dior has fired famed designer John Galliano a day after a video surfaced on the Internet showed him drunkenly saying, "I love Hitler."
"Today, because of the particularly odious nature of the behavior and words of John Galliano in a video made public this Monday, the Christian Dior house has decided to lay him off immediately and has begun firing procedures against him," Dior said in a statement Tuesday.
Dior's Chief Executive Sidney Toledano added: "We unequivocally condemn the statements made by John Galliano, which are in total contradiction to the longstanding core values of Christian Dior."
In the cellphone video, first posted by the UK's Sun, Galliano, 50, is seen slurring his words and telling a cafe patron, "People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f---ing gassed."
Last Friday, the fashion house suspendedGalliano as creative director pending a police investigation into a separate incident in which he is accused of verbally assaulting a couple with anti-Semitic slurs at a Paris cafe. It is unknown if the video posted on Monday occurred on the same night and venue.
Dior had came under pressure after Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman, the company's spokeswoman for its Miss Dior Cherie fragrance, publicly denounced Galliano, saying in a statement, obtained by the New York Times, that she was "disgusted and shocked" by his comments and "will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way."
