French actor Gerard Depardieu punches Italian photojournalist
It has been reported that French actor Gerard Depardieu punched Italian photojournalist Rino Barillari, who was taking his picture in Rome.
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French actor Gerard Depardieu, whose name has been involved in sexual harassment and assault allegations in recent years, has now made headlines for allegedly attacking a photojournalist in Rome.
According to reports in the Italian press, Depardieu was having lunch with friends at a famous venue on Via Veneto in Rome today when he became annoyed by Barillari taking photos and punched the photojournalist.
Known in the country as the "king of the paparazzi," Barillari told the newspaper Messaggero, "Depardieu punched me in the face three times. My head hurts. I'm not 15 anymore, I'm 79. There was a taxi strike in the city today. I was heading to it. While walking on Via Veneto, I saw him with a beautiful lady and took their photos. When he noticed, he threw some ice at me, which is normal for famous people. They do things like that. But then he came over to me and punched me in the face 3 times. I'm going to the hospital now, I think he broke something. I will report this to the police. If it's war, then it's war."
Piero Lepore, the owner of the venue who helped the photojournalist, also stated to the press that such scenes used to happen in the past, and that with today's incident, it was as if they had gone back in time.