Fashion designer sacked for 'I love Hitler' comments

French fashion house Christian Dior fired John Galliano today after an online video clip circulated around the world showing its star designer shouting anti-Semitic abuse at people in a Paris bar.

The British fashion designer had already been suspended by Dior for saying "I love Hitler" and glorifying the Holocaust in the clip.

Galliano, 50, was summoned by Paris police yesterday to face three people who accused him of racially abusing them in a Parisian bar in two separate incidents.

The designer denies the allegations and has made counter-accusations that a couple on Friday defamed, insulted and threatened him.

However, a mobile phone video posted on the internet shows Galliano making a verbal, racial attack on customers in a Paris bar in December.

The Dior creative director, apparently the worse for drink, is captured in mid-argument.

A woman asks: "Are you blond, with blue eyes?" Galliano, wearing a large, felt hat, replies: "No, but I love Hitler, and people like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would be ... gassed and ... dead."

In the third alleged incident, a woman approached Paris police at the weekend claiming she had suffered anti-Semitic abuse from Galliano in La Perle bar in the Marais district in October last year.

Dior said it had a "zero-tolerance" policy on racism and anti-Semitism.

The Gibraltar-born designer was to present the Dior autumn-winter ready-to-wear collection at the end of this week.

Galliano's lawyer, Stephane Zerbib, said yesterday that he knew nothing of the video and his client insisted he was not anti-Semitic. "What matters isn't what's on the internet, what matters are the testimonies and the hearings," Zerbib said.

Galliano was driven to a police station near La Perle bar to meet his accusers. French police often bring plaintiffs and defendants together in private to test different versions of events.

Galliano made no comment as he arrived.

After reports of the first allegations, a woman approached police to tell of a similar exchange with the designer in La Perle bar last October. This appears to have been a separate incident from the one shown on the video.

The woman said Galliano had begun to insult her for no reason. After reports of his comments to a Jewish and Asian couple in the bar last Friday, she said she had decided to come forward.

The Jewish and Asian couple alleged Galliano said, "Dirty Jewish face, you should be dead", and "f***ing Asian bastard, I will kill you". They also accused the designer of "mild acts of violence".

GALLIANO'S OUTBURST
Female 1: "I can't believe he said that."

Female 2: "It's not good ... [to Galliano] Are you blond ... Are you blond with blue eyes?"

Galliano: "No, but I love Hitler and people like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f****** gassed and f****** dead."

Females: "Oh my God."

Female 2: "Do you have a problem?"

Galliano: "With you - you're ugly."

Female 2: "You don't like peace? You don't want peace in the world?"

Galliano: "Not with people, like ugly people."

Female 2: "Where are you from?"

Galliano: "Your asshole."

- INDEPENDENT, AGENCIES