Racism fine

British fashion designer John Galliano was handed a 6,000 euro ($8,400) suspended fine on Thursday after a French court found him guilty of hurling anti-Semitic and racist slurs at patrons of a Paris bar.

The 50-year-old designer, who was fired from fashion house Christian Dior over the scandal, was on trial for two incidents that took place in February this year and October 2010.

The Paris court found Galliano guilty of calling a woman a "dirty Jew" and her boyfriend a "f*****g Asian bastard" during a drunken outburst at a bar in Le Marais, the historic Jewish quarter of Paris.

Dior sacked him in February after a cell phone video emerged of him drunkenly telling patrons at the same Le Marais bar in October: "I love Hitler."

Under the influence

Galliano said he had been under the influence of his "triple addiction" to alcohol, prescription drugs and sleeping pills and could not recall the incidents in question. The designer told the court during the one-day trial in June that he had since undergone two months of rehab.

One of the most celebrated designers of his generation, Galliano was at the creative helm of Christian Dior for 15 years and also ran his own label. The damage to his reputation has been severe, with people ranging from Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld to US actress Natalie Portman slamming his behavior in public.

The Paris criminal court ordered him to pay a symbolic euro in damages to each of his victims, as well as to five anti-racism groups that were plaintiffs in the case. He was also ordered to cover the legal costs of four anti-racism bodies.

Galliano had faced possible jail time and a fine of up to 22,500 euros. As the fine is suspended, the designer does not yet have to pay it.

Author: Catherine Bolsover (dpa, AFP, AP)
Editor: Martin Kuebler