{"id":151744,"date":"2018-02-08T01:20:43","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T06:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=151744"},"modified":"2018-02-08T01:20:43","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T06:20:43","slug":"just-for-laughs-founder-gilbert-rozon-denies-sex-abuse-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/02\/08\/just-for-laughs-founder-gilbert-rozon-denies-sex-abuse-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"Just for Laughs founder Gilbert Rozon denies sex abuse allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_125189\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-125189\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Gilbert-Rozon-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-125189\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Gilbert-Rozon-1.jpg\" alt=\"FILE: Gilbert Rozon, the founder of the Just For Laughs comedy festival (Photo: Gilbert Rozon\/Twitter)\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Gilbert-Rozon-1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Gilbert-Rozon-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Gilbert-Rozon-1-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-125189\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FILE: Gilbert Rozon, the founder of the Just For Laughs comedy festival (Photo: Gilbert Rozon\/Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>MONTREAL \u2014 Gilbert Rozon, the founder and majority shareholder of Just For Laughs, refuted all allegations of sexual misconduct against him on Wednesday in his first public remarks since being accused last October.<\/p>\n<p>Rozon told a reporter for the TVA news agency outside the Montreal courthouse he apologizes if anyone felt his advances were out of place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never had sex with anyone against their will,\u201d said the businessman, who founded one of the city&#8217;s most famous summer festivals. \u201cThese stories are &#8230; we&#8217;ll see what the motivations are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The influential\u00a0<strong><em>entertainment<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0mogul faces allegations from at least 10 women who accuse him of either sexually harassing or sexually assaulting them.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the allegations, Rozon said he would sell his majority shares in the Just for Laughs company he founded in 1983.<\/p>\n<p>He was in court on Wednesday testifying during legal proceedings initiated by Quebecor Inc., related to the selling of his shares.<\/p>\n<p>Media giant Quebecor \u2014 which owns the TVA news agency \u2014 is claiming the embattled, Montreal-based Just For Laughs company cannot be sold without its consent.<\/p>\n<p>The media company filed a request for an injunction in Quebec Superior Court, demanding its 2012 partnership deal with the comedy festival be respected. Quebecor claims the agreement gives it a right of first refusal regarding the sale of the company.<\/p>\n<p>He told the media outside the courtroom on Wednesday, \u201cI refute (the allegations) and I hope we are still living in a society that favours, that privileges, the presumption of innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A group of women announced in November they filed an application for a class action lawsuit against the businessman, claiming he \u201cabused at least 20 victims over a period of 34 years,\u201d between 1982 and 2016.<\/p>\n<p>No charges have been laid, and none of the allegations have been proven in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MONTREAL \u2014 Gilbert Rozon, the founder and majority shareholder of Just For Laughs, refuted all allegations of sexual misconduct against &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":125189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[46167,46168],"class_list":["post-151744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-just-for-laughs-founder-gilbert-rozon","tag-sex-abuse-allegations","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}