A defamation lawsuit has been filed by ex-French rugby star Richard Dourthe against social media personality Charline Prudeau over a controversial video from a summer festival.
The 50-year-old former international centre initiated legal proceedings on Wednesday, following widespread circulation of footage from the Féria de Dax event held between August 13 and 15 in south-western France.
The clip, which has garnered over one million TikTok views, allegedly depicts Dourthe raising the 23-year-old lifestyle influencer's skirt whilst she danced atop a bar table.
Prudeau captioned her post with "You just want to enjoy yourself but it's impossible again because... men" and "I hope that your wife sees this, you fat pig."
Richard Dourthe has filed a lawsuit in response to the social media video
|GETTY
The footage prompted Prudeau to lodge her own legal action for "sexist behaviour" against the retired athlete, according to prosecutors in Dax.
The incident has generated significant media coverage across France, with both individuals now pursuing separate legal complaints.
Dourthe achieved considerable success during his rugby career, earning 31 international caps between 1996 and 2001 and accumulating 183 points for Les Bleus.
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He participated in France's 1997 Five Nations Grand Slam victory and established a French top division scoring record exceeding 3,000 points across multiple clubs.
Until 2022, he worked as a television pundit for Canal+'s domestic rugby broadcasts.
Through his legal representative Arnaud Dupin, Dourthe has contested the portrayal of events in the viral footage, asserting that crucial context was omitted.
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The clip appears to show the rugby star lifting up the influencers skirt
|TikTok
The lawyer's statement alleges that before any interaction with Dourthe occurred, "the young woman had lifted her friend's skirt" and that the recording fails to capture earlier moments when Prudeau allegedly "placed her posterior at shoulder level with men who were having a drink together."
Whilst acknowledging that his client "had no business touching the frill of a girl's short skirt," Dupin maintains that Dourthe offered an immediate apology.
The statement characterises the situation as "a media campaign orchestrated by an influencer" and accuses Prudeau of "genuine slanderous disinformation."
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Prudeau's legal counsel, Alexandre Parra-Bruguière, responded to Dourthe's defamation claim by labelling it "desperate and grotesque."
The lawyer's statement declared that the complaint was "legally and morally misplaced" and emphasised his client's confidence in her position.
"My client is entirely unfazed; the facts which she has denounced are proven and her words only confirm what everyone can see in a video which has been in no way doctored," the statement read.
Richard Dourthe gained 31 international caps during his career
|GETTY
Parra-Bruguière argued that "there was no need for a 50-year-old man, leaning on a bar, to lift up the skirt of a 23-year-old woman to look underneath."
Dourthe's family connections include brothers-in-law Raphaël Ibañez and Olivier Magne, both former internationals who wed his sisters.