French film star Gerard Depardieu and Air France-KLM Airlines aren't jiving too well. Air France claims Depardieu was intoxicated while urinating on a plane--the likeable movie star was slated for a Paris to Dublin flight when he relieved himself on the cabin floor. Friends say repeated flight delays--and bad aim in a bottle--are to blame. Air France's City Jet sent some tacky tweets about the actor who says he's got prostate problems.
A friend of on the flight claims France’s best-known movie actor did not pee in the airplane's cabin. He disputes the Air France/CityJet account of what occurred -- stating his 62-year-old friend was urinating, but that he was supposedly peeing discreetly into a bottle. Why a bottle, the method chosen by long-haul truckers? The claim is that a flight delay meant French actor Gerard Depardieu 'had to go', and is supposedly after a "mortified" to cause a spillage.
The Paris spokeswoman for Air France-KLM, apparently assigned to dealing with the aftermath related to damages, says: "I will only confirm that he [Gerard Depardieu], in effect, urinated in the plane." Air France-KLM is parent company to the smaller City Jet which operates between Dublin and Charles de Gaulle. City Jet made the questionable decision to force the Dublin-bound flight back to the terminal -- to force Depardieu off the flight.
One City Jet passenger claims a very different story to tell about his experience with the acclaimed French movie star: A passenger told Europe 1 radio that actor Depardieu was very visibly inebriated by alcohol, and that the man had tried to stand up before take-off -- making the public declaration: "I want to piss. I want to piss." Strangely, only one passenger of a packed City Je plane felt the need to tell that story. Apparently desperation makes people do stupid things -- like choosing to appear on a radio station in order to discuss a celebrity's peeing habits. After all, it may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And it just may serve to tick off one of those most important accomplishments off a bucket list -- like 'degrade a celebrity who doesn't deserve to have more than others.'
It would logically seem there are better or more important things in life than to discuss another man's urine, on radio no less. But maybe it just proves there is a form of urinating capable of mimicking 'diarrhea of the mouth'.
Regardless of any other question, it seems Gerard Depardieu did want to piss -- or really needed to alleviate that bladder. Where he intended to place that pee is a matter up for debate. From the actor's perspective, the goal was urinating neatly -- in a bottle.
A stewardess had reportedly asked the celebrity -- who was currently on the City Jet flight to Ireland in order to play a comic book warrior in an upcoming movie -- he needed to wait 15 minutes until after the seat-belt lights had dinged and dimmed, and signaled bathroom operations as open. Instead , according to the CityJet stewardess on the flight operated by Air France: "And there and then he [Gerard Depardieu] stood up and did it [urinated] on the floor. We could see he had been drinking [alcohol]. The stewardess was dumbfounded," says a witness on board the Air France plane.
Friends of the "mortified" star -- whom have spoken anonymously -- claim Depardieu had told them he was "absolutely not drunk," but had been caught short on time and therefore forced to pee into a bottle in as private a manner as possible.
Those on-board friends confirm the City Jet stewardess' request to wait 15 minutes before toilets would be opening, and state Depardieu had agreed to the wait -- but that the flight had then been further delayed an unxpected, further 20 minutes. Fellow actor Edouard Baer somehow had an empty bottle in his possession, a bottle reportedly offered up for Depardieu's 'cause'.
Depardieu claims that when some urine spilled onto the cabin's interior floor, the actor was mortified and offered to clean up the pee spillage himself -- but crew on the flight that had not yet departed forced the plane to be turned back around, for Depardieu to be escorted from Air France's CityJet plane. Since the event just days ago, the French actor says the need to urinate stems from a prostate problem and not intoxication.
Fortunately for Depardieu -- and probably related to his stature -- the actor received no legal charges and not even a fine for peeing on the floor. The French actor's take on the situation: he had the impression that his position about the misunderstanding -- and what is called the inflexible attitude of the Air France-KLM stewardess -- had been understood by those with whom he had spoken to following the incident.
And it all could have been a bit of a misunderstanding or inflexible stewardesses or employees. There's been a lot of that going around lately. Flight attendants have been reacting in 'powerful' ways these days -- in a battle of egos with airline employees who seem to feel they've been disobeyed by plane passengers who not following orders quickly enough, or do no display the correct amount of subordination and respect for crew members. In this case, a battle of power seems to lend a hand in the end result -- where an entire plane filled with people was turned around and delayed yet longer for takeoff, despite any terrorist threat.
It seems to be a battle between the 'less-haves' and the 'have-mores': "I was outraged," claims a passenger. "When you are an actor, you are not like other people, you do not have to abide by the rules. He [Depardieu] could have waited [to urinate], all the same." The passenger-slash-witness also claims Depardieu was obviously drunk, however police apparently didn't concur with the idea the French actor was highly intoxicated, allowing ground crew to accompany the actor off the plane.
A CityJet spokeswoman, as parent company of Air France-KLM, says: "The passenger [Gerard Depardieu] refused to remain in his [plane] seat. It was the captain’s decision it was best to return the plane to the stand. Surely other passengers were thrilled and saw necessity for an already-delayed plane to be held another hour and 15 minutes over a peeing incident.
Gerald Depardieu is considered the best known face in French films -- appearing in nearly 200 movies including a starring role in the 1990 French literary epic "Cyrano de Bergerac" and the United States' romantic comedy "Green Card". He's also a man of power whom has a solid, affable nature and is both a successful winemaker and restaurateur. Depardieu's greatest questionable decision was following a drunk driving conviction in his long-ago past, back in 1990. Criticized in the past, and presumably under stress regarding those times, he chose to headbutt a press photographer. Perhaps the photographer 'deserved' it: Despite the act, Depardieu has remained a well-loved man in the public.
City Jet says passenger Depardieu did not appear -- in the eyes of crew members -- to be drunk. Perhaps the most interesting part of the Gerard Depardieu incident is classlessness -- and that's not referring to the man who peed on the cabin floor. There can be multiple reasons for any one scenario. Accidents happen. And, regardless, especially for a professional service, it's always crucial to remain discreet. While the City Jet spokeswoman, herself, has remained discreet -- without disclosing names or private information and referring to the event simply as an "incident on board", her firm City Jet publicly made fun of Depardieu on its Twitter account viewed by many thousands. Even if the good-natured actor had had one too many, accidents can happen -- and the professional aspect, when no physical harm has been done, is to remain professional rather than a gossip.
But apparently the Air France-operated airline is not capable of maintaining a closed mouth. Loose lips certainly do sink ships -- and companies. If people believe certain acts are not forgotten, they'd be wiser to know the truth: Payback eventually comes full circle.
Publicly via Twitter, City Jet made announcements via two separate tweets: "As you may have seen on the news, we [CityJet] are busy mopping the floor of one of our planes this morning," the airline company's rep joked.
Another tweet later followed: "We’d also like to remind all passengers that our planes are fully equipped with toilet facilities."
Perhaps higher-ups caught on that, regardless of cause, airline jokes made from the lower ranks can do irreparable harm to a company's image. Kind of like in divorce, once certain, private things have been publicly disclosed, there's no love lost. And that trust factor will never be regained.
The French City Jet airline seems to be taking a cue from its alter-ego in the United States: Southwest Airlines. Southwest is the airline that seems to believe everything is a joke -- unless the scenario includes a Southwest flight attendant battling a passenger, now facing jail time, over electronic cigarettes.
So City Jet apparently thought those tweets the airline sent about actor Depardieu were in great taste, a good idea -- to make fun of one of the nation's most well-known celebrities whom pays for services through the company. Surely he appreciated the humor. Perhaps someone else -- like, say, Air France-KLM -- did not.
After the City Jet tweets that made fun of the French actor had gone out publicly, CityJet (most likely at the 'prompting' of parent company Air France-KLM) later tried to clarify -- or at least provide the 5-year-old child's standard 'apology' of "I'm not sorry for what I didn't do."
City Jet announced those messages of poor taste were meant to "poke fun" and were "done this morning in a humorous way. In no way do they reflect an official message."
The problem is, things are only funny when they're not at a passenger's expense -- or, say, a high-profile passenger you've been actively trying to publicly embarrass. City Jet and Air France-KLM missed the message, and it's a biggie: You can't simply state whatever you want and create related damages then expect to clean the mess up by stating it "in no way...reflects an official message." Flashing red lights, Air France-KLM and CityJet: ANY message is an official message -- representing the company, quality of employees -- and the company's image. In other words, you blew it big-time.
A good service company protects its own, like family. And that, Air France-KLM -- and the airlines you operate -- equals a massive #fail.