John Galliano's Anti-Semitic Slurs
In the year's most shocking fall from fashion grace, the king of couture and the creative head of Dior, John Galliano, was charged with drunkenly hurling anti-Semitic slurs at a couple in a Paris café in February. While the British designer later said in court he had no recollection of the incident, blaming "a triple addiction" to "alcohol, sleeping pills and Valium" for his offensive behavior, he had originally denied the charges, going so far as to countersue his accusers. But when a video emerged showing Galliano on a separate occasion drunkenly proclaiming his love for Hitler, there was no longer much point in denying the charges. Dior fired its golden boy, and the company's newly signed campaign model Natalie Portman openly lambasted Galliano and his remarks. A court in Paris, where racial and religious hate speech is illegal, heard the details of the case and found him guilty in September. While his official sentence was on the lighter side — a suspended fine of 6,000 euros (nearly $8,500) — the real punishment was the damage to Galliano's status and career.