Brigitte Bardot Convicted for Insulting Hobby Hunters
Former French film actress Brigitte Bardot has been sentenced to a total fine of 7,000 euros after she used the Nazi-era term “Untermenschen” (subhumans) to insult hunters.
Iconic actress Brigitte Bardot loves animals above all else and has crossed legal boundaries in their defence. She must now pay a fine after insulting the head of the French hunting association.
Fine for insulting recreational hunters
The 86-year-old Brigitte Bardot must, according to the prosecution, remove offensive statements made in 2019 about the recreational hunters’ association from the website of her animal welfare foundation. Specifically, Bardot had used harsh language on her website to denounce the recreational hunting community and cited French hunting association president Willy Schraen as an example. However, Bardot’s choice of words was unacceptable: the term “Untermenschen” she used is a word tainted by National Socialism that has no place in criticism of hunting or anywhere else.
In doing so, Bardot had “gone too far,” argued the hunting association’s lawyer, Denis Delcourt-Poudenx.
Bardot absent from the hearing
The 86-year-old herself was absent from the hearing in northern France for health reasons and did not appear in court. In addition to the base fine of 5’000 euros, Bardot must pay 1’000 euros in compensation to hunting association president Schraen and cover 1’000 euros in court costs.
The prosecution had called for a fine of 6’000 euros during the trial, noting in its closing argument that Bardot had already been convicted five times for defamatory and discriminatory statements.
On 30 June, Brigitte Bardot announced on Twitter: "I would rather go to prison than pay the hobby hunters a single cent.»
A lifelong commitment to animal welfare
Bardot has long been committed to animal welfare. “Whoever shoots at an animal also hits me with their bullet”, the activist, who lives in the south of France, once told «Welt am Sonntag».
At the height of her fame, the once blonde beauty ended her career after more than 45 films and 80 songs. In her autobiography “Tears of the Fight”, published in 2018, she wrote that her former life had been meaningless and superficial. For over 40 years she has lived in seclusion in St. Tropez with animals she rescues from shelters and circuses.
«Once the world was at my feet because I was beautiful, famous and desired — today I am nothing but a nuisance”, she explains in “Tears of the Fight».
Political context
Bardot is politically associated with the far-right. In 2012 she supported the right-wing populist Marine Le Pen in the presidential election campaign. Bardot’s husband Bernard d’Ormale was a long-time advisor to the far-right party Front National. Her commitment to wildlife is beyond dispute, but her political affiliations and her choice of words are problematic. Factual criticism of hunting does not need to resort to outbursts.
