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Brigitte Bardot is fined for calling islanders on La Reunion 'savages' over treatment of animals

posted 3 years ago by TMC-4 (20123)
7 replies | jump to latest

https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/brigitte-bardot-is-fined-for-calling-islanders-on-la-reunion-savages-over-treatment-of-animals.4708544/

French screen legend turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot was on Thursday fined 20,000 euros (£17,000) by a court on France's Indian Ocean island of La Reunion over a 2019 diatribe where she described its inhabitants as 'savages'.

Bardot, 87, launched the rambling attack against the inhabitants of La Reunion, one of France's overseas territories spread across the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean, in response to what she saw as their mistreatment of animals.

Her spokesman Bruno Jacquelin was also fined by the court in the main town of Saint-Denis de la Reunion 4,000 euros (£3,400) for his role in sending the statement to several media outlets at her request.

'The natives have kept their savage genes,' the animal rights campaigner wrote in an open letter attacking the islanders for their treatment of animals, describing locals as 'degenerate savages'.

She took aim at the island's Hindu Tamil population for sacrificing goats, evoking the 'cannibalism of past centuries' as she lashed 'a degenerate population still soaked in barbarous ancestral traditions'.

Bardot, who shot to fame in the 1956 film '...And God Created Woman', has become a controversial figure, and has also been convicted in the past over her comments about Muslims.

France's then overseas territories minister Annick Girardin told her in a letter at the time after her comments on Le Reunion 'that racism is not an opinion, it's an offence'.

Didier Robert, President of the Reunion region, previously described Bardot as 'irresponsible, outrageous and contemptuous'.

He said her letter contained deeply racist terms that were 'absolutely unacceptable'.

During previous court appearances in France, Miss Bardot has also received substantial fines and been forced to apologize for her bigotry.

Bardot is a close friend of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the FN, who has been convicted for anti-Semitism, racism and Holocaust denial. His daughter, Marine Le Pen, now runs the party.

Bardot quit the movie industry in 1973 and now runs an animal sanctuary in the French Riviera resort of St Tropez, where she first shot to stardom in the 1950s.

Animal rights activists say abuse of animals is common on the island and that animal sacrifice is tolerated in some religious ceremonies.

Reunion, which is 6000 miles from Paris, is one of five overseas departments and regions of France.

It is a favored holiday destination of thousands from Europe.

The island, east of Madagascar, has also made headlines in recent years for a spate of fatal shark attacks.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10165937/Brigitte-Bardot-fined-calling-islanders-La-Reunion-savages-treatment-animals.html

[–] Quasimodo (16388) 3 years ago

I hope she refuses to pay the fine. She was right, blood sacrifice is primitive barbarism.

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

I don't see that a blood sacrifice is any worse than killing animals for food. The animal is dead and gets eaten either way.

No, my only concern here is that she's doing FAR more harm than good to the animal rights cause.

[–] Rorikon (17855) 3 years ago

I'm fine with that as well as long as the animal isn't wasted. I guess there are those that think about the animals well being, you know, humane killing.

[–] Rorikon (17855) 3 years ago

This is so confusing on a woke level. She's calling the 'natives' savages which is racist and yet they're doing archaic traditions and not being progressive at the same time. Like calling a black person a white supremacist or some crap. Heads are going to explode.

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

Well at an adult level, if La Reunion is a place where animal sacrifice is legal and racist statements are punishable by fines, then anyone who objects to either practice is welcome to spend their tourist dollars somewhere else.

But from a Woke Nitwit perspective, hurting the feelings of a POC is the worst crime their is. I mean I'm an old Leftie myself, but these are idiot sheltered kids who think that hurt feelings are literally the worst thing that can happen to a person, which shows you how much they know about real life.

[–] marktayloruk (2502) 3 years ago

The greatest of all Frenchmen- "I disapprove of what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it." Why can't French law follow his example? People who practice cruelty to animals are savages.

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

Cruelty? Savages? Betcha you eat meat, because most people do, and betcha the cow that was slaughtered to make your burger suffered just as much as the animal that's "sacrificed" on La Reunion. There's really no functional difference between eating meat that's been slaughtered by someone else, and killing a goat in your own back yard for a religious rite and/or BBQ, a dead animal is a dead animal. (All remarks withdrawn and apology offered, if you are a vegetarian or vegan.)

So while I will defend Bardot's right to say nitwit offensive things, because I believe in free speech, I say that as someone who didn't grow up as on oppressed race in a imperialist colony. I don't agree with the Reunion law against racist speech, but I do agree that the people of the island have the right to make their own laws.