John Galliano used to be the head of design at the fashion house Dior. At the beginning of this year he was sacked for having made anti-Semitic comments including, to the owner of a Paris bar, 'People like you would be dead today, your mothers, your forefathers would be gassed.' Today, because expressing your own opinions if they disagree with the State is illegal in France, Mr Galliano was given a suspended fine and told to pay the costs of a number of
hangers on anti-racist groups.
In March this year, dismissing Mr Galliano from his post, the Chief Executive of Dior, Sydney Tolledano, said Galliano's comments 'totally contradict the values which have always been defended by Christian Dior'.
Er, no. Christian Dior made his name and his money during World War II dressing the wives and girlfriends of Nazi officers and collaborators.
For Mr Tolledano this would have been, as Jacques Chirac once put it, 'an excellent opportunity to remain silent'.
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