Just for Laughs founder Gilbert Rozon begins testimony in sex-assault civil trial

Just for Laughs founder Gilbert Rozon has begun his testimony in his civil trial on allegations of sexual assault.

Rozon is being sued in civil court by nine women who are collectively seeking about $14 million for alleged sexual assaults they say they were subjected to.

Rozon, 70, testified for nearly an hour at the courthouse in Montreal on Monday afternoon, giving a lengthy recounting of his childhood and the early stages of his career in show business.

Rozon has always denied the allegations against him, though he did not address the allegations during his testimony on Monday.

His testimony is expected to continue over several days in the coming weeks in a Quebec Superior Court civil trial that began in December.

The day began with the testimony of a former employee, Louise Thériault, who worked at Just for Laughs in 1995 and 1996.

Her testimony was repeatedly interrupted by legal arguments over certain questions that Bruce Johnston, representing the plaintiffs, wanted to ask Thériault.

All of the women suing him have testified about their experiences and faced cross-examination. The case has heard from dozens of witnesses, including from seven other women who have also claimed that Rozon sexually abused them.

A “charming and seductive” man

During the first part of her testimony, Thériault described Rozon as an “attractive and seductive man.”

She said she “slipped into that game because I thought he was a man who was elegant, he was handsome, and he had a certain power.”

She said she felt flattered by his interest in her, noting that she had always embraced her femininity and her power of seduction.

“I took part in that game with him because I also wanted to seduce him,” she said, adding that he was a funny flirt who occasionally made her laugh during his attempts to charm her.

When asked what kind of boss he was, Thériault said that the trust Rozon had placed in her for more demanding tasks had given her confidence and that he always made a point of greeting her when he was at the Just for Laughs Festival.

“It was always smooth,” she summarized.

Seductive rivalry

She also spoke about a meeting with Patricia Tulasne, one of the plaintiffs in the case, with whom she said she had an “instant friendly connection” when they first met.

The two women spent time together over the course of a summer before distancing themselves due to incompatible values—specifically, that Tulasne “had a hatred towards men that I didn’t share.”

Thériault said she was very surprised when she later learned what had allegedly happened between Tulasne and Rozon, especially since she recalled being convinced during a production dinner that “she and I were sort of in a rivalry of seduction for the big boss’s attention—he was at the table, and we both wanted a bit of it.”

Her testimony was set to resume in the afternoon.

A long legal saga

The lawsuit involving nine women—Tulasne, Lyne Charlebois, Anne-Marie Charrette, Annick Charrette, Sophie Moreau, Danie Frenette, Guylaine Courcelles, Mary Sicari, and Martine Roy—follows a 2017 request to launch a class action against the businessman by a group of women known as Les Courageuses.

Initially approved at first instance in 2018, Rozon later succeeded in having the request dismissed by the Quebec Court of Appeal in 2020.

Separately, 14 women filed police complaints, but the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions only pursued the case of Annick Charrette.

Rozon was acquitted in 2020 due to reasonable doubt.

Tulasne, who acted as spokesperson for Les Courageuses, was the first to file a civil suit against Rozon in April 2021.

The eight other women followed, and all the lawsuits were merged into the trial that began last December and has been repeatedly delayed due to legal debates.

So far, 42 witnesses have testified for the plaintiffs, including the nine women involved and seven other women—among them Julie Snyder, Salomé Corbo, Pénélope McQuade, and Rozon’s former partner Véronique Moreau—who all claimed to have experienced sexual abuse by the defendant.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews