French radio star in hot water over nude casting for show

PARIS (AFP) - One of France’s biggest radio stars was accused Wednesday of pushing young actors into agreeing to record explicit scenes for a web series.

Europe 1 radio has ordered its star Jean-Marc Morandini to return from holiday to explain himself, a source told AFP, after a number of aspiring actors told the French magazine Les Inrocks they felt tricked and abused.

The presenter, who is set to become one of the faces of the rolling news channel iTele, has denied the allegations and intends to sue, the radio station said.

The four-part series, “The Falcons,” made by Morandini’s production company, concentrates on a football team‘s locker room antics.

One only episode remained online Wednesday, and a lawyer for two of the actors told AFP that they would be making legal complaints against Morandini for either sexual harassment or abuse of labor laws.

Viewers had to pay to watch complete episodes which contained full frontal nudity and masturbation, the magazine said. The series has also been promoted on Twitter by France’s biggest porn producer, Marc Dorcel.

One of the young men told the magazine that Morandini, 50, had asked him to strip in his Europe 1 office so that he could take pictures of him with his smartphone.

Explicit videos

He said he had earlier sent explicit videos and photos to a mysterious casting director called “Catherine,” who only communicated with the actors by email, urging them to “push their boundaries” in casting videos.

One youth claimed she urged him to rehearse a sexual act with Morandini in one casting session.

The actors now suspect “Catherine” may have been Morandini.

Lawyer Thierry Vallat, who is acting for two of the youths, said the “set-up with a false casting director was to con these young people ... into doing things which they would not have normally done.”

The actors were merely there to “satisfy the sexual urges of the producer,” he added, referring to Morandini.

“Europe 1 knows nothing about the content of this article,” the station said in a statement.

“We have questioned Jean-Marc Morandini and he has formally denied the allegations and said he intends to sue.”

Morandini confirmed to AFP that he would be taking legal action over the article, but made no further comment.

Inrocks editor-in-chief Pierre Siankowski stood by the story and said there were further revelations to come.

“We have further testimonies and we are working on another article for next week,” he added.

French film director Jean-Claude Brisseau was given a one-year suspended prison sentence in 2005 for demanding sexual favors from two actresses during auditions for his film “Secret Things.”