Designer sacked as fashion house repudiates anti-Semitic remarks

Footage of the designer emerged after his arrest in Paris on suspicion of assault and anti-Semitism.

The fashion house’s chairman Sidney Toledano said: “I unequivocally condemn the statements made by John Galliano which are in total contradiction to the long-standing core values of Christian Dior.”

A spokesman for the designer refused to comment.

Galliano was suspended last week after he allegedly launched an attack on a couple sitting on a café terrace following a late-night drinking session in the upmarket Marais district.

However, further footage, which appeared to show him abusing drinkers in a bar and telling them “I love Hitler”, has since emerged.

A statement released by Dior said it had “commenced termination proceedings” in the light of the “deeply offensive statements and conduct by John Galliano in a video made public yesterday”.

Police said Galliano, who has been Dior’s creative director for 14 years, had drunk the equivalent of as much as two bottles of wine when he was arrested.

He was later released to return to his home in the same district of the French capital.

In France, making anti-Semitic remarks is punishable by up to six months in prison or with a fine of up to 22,500 euro (£19,200).

Born in Gibraltar, Galliano grew up in south London and studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design,

He was appointed head of Dior five years after moving to Paris in 1990.