(Newser)
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Fashion whiz John Galliano will blame drugs and claim amnesia today at his Paris trial for an anti-Semitic tirade against a Jewish customer in a local bar. The axed Dior creative director had a "triple addiction to alcohol, Valium, and sleeping pills," his attorney told Reuters. “The combined effect of these drugs is a state of complete and utter abandon." Galliano, 50, was "baffled" when he saw video of himself last year praising Hitler and blasting invectives at a museum curator sitting next to him in the bar, said the lawyer.
"Every witness has said he was in an abnormal condition," he added. Galliano started popping pills "like candy" due to tremendous pressure from Dior to turn a profit while also managing his own fashion line, his lawyer claims. Galliano has apologized for his rant. If found guilty of hate-speech charges against him, he faces up to six months in prison and $32,000 in fines.
