British designer John Galliano appears at the end of his Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2011 fashion show for French fashion house Dior in Paris January 24, 2011. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
LONDON (Reuters) - British designer John Galliano apologized on Wednesday for an alleged anti-Semitic outburst that cost him his job with fashion house Christian Dior.
“Anti-Semitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologize for my behavior in causing any offence,” Galliano said in a statement issued through a British legal firm.
Galliano said he was “subjected to verbal harassment and an unprovoked assault when an individual tried to hit me with a chair having taken violent exception to my look and my clothing” during the altercation in a Parisian bar last week.
“For these reasons I have commenced proceedings for defamation and the threats made against me,” he added.
