Gérard Depardieu, who has been accused of sexual assault and which he denies, will not take part in the promotion of his next film Umami, which is scheduled to be released on May 17, the distributor and producer announced on Friday, AFP reported.

“We continue to defend this film and Gérard Depardieu has nothing to do with its promotion,” they wrote in a statement, trying not to “discount the hundreds of hours of work and considerable energy expended by all those involved in the film, made between France and Japan”.

The distributor and producer want to “reminder that abusive behavior is not acceptable in film or in any other world” and that they “support all victims of sexual assault or harassment.”

They assure that “there was no incident during filming”, after “interviewing all the teams”: “no one reported inappropriate behavior of Gerard Depardieu during filming”.

Médiapart recently published the testimony of 13 women who accuse Gerard Depardieu of sexual assault, who is already under investigation for the alleged rape and sexual assault of actress Charlotte Arnoux.

At the time of the revelation, the Paris prosecutor’s office said that “to date, no new complaint has been received.” The prosecutor’s office also said that the investigation, which began in July 2020 based on the complaint of this artist, is ongoing.

The 74-year-old actor “denies all allegations that are likely to fall under criminal law,” the Temime law firm, which is defending him, told Mediapart.

“Among those who spoke to Mediapart, there are some for whom the facts are not written down. I hope some of them will be willing to file a complaint,” Charlotte Arnold, 27, who spoke out for the first time this week, told Elle magazine.

According to the trailer, Umami follows chef Gerard Depardieu as he travels to Japan to find himself. The cast also included, among others, Pierre Richard and Sandrine Bonner.