Fashion house Christian Dior fired designer John Galliano yesterday (March 1) after a video surfaced showing a drunken Galliano slurring anti-Semitic insults and claiming to love Hitler, reports People.
"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," said Dior chief executive Sidney Toledano in a statement.
"We unequivocally condemn the statements made by John Galliano, which are a total contradiction to the longstanding core values of Christian Dior."
The trouble started for Galliano last Thursday (February 24), when he was picked up by French authorities for allegedly verbally assaulting a couple at Le Perle cafe in Paris and making racist remarks toward them. Over the weekend, a second complaint was lodged when a woman came forward saying that Galliano had made similar anti-Semitic comments towards her in the same cafe in October.
On Monday (February 28), The Sun posted an undated video of Galliano, captured on a cellphone camera, once again at Le Perle, making drunken anti-Semitic statements such as, "I love Hitler."
Actress Natalie Portman, currently the face of Miss Dior Cherie fragrance, spoke out against the designer.
"I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video. In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way," Portman said in a statement yesterday.