Sex trial: Quebec TV host Julie Snyder testifies against Just for Laughs founder

MONTREAL — Julie Snyder, one of Quebec’s most famous television personalities, told a civil trial on Thursday that she was sexually assaulted by Just for Laughs founder Gilbert Rozon in Paris more than three decades ago.

Snyder recounted her alleged assault as part of a nearly $14-million civil lawsuit against Rozon, now 70, by nine women — excluding Snyder — who are suing the former comedy mogul.

In 1991, when 23-year-old Snyder was the host of the TV show “Sortir,” she went to Paris for work. Looking to extend her time in the city so she could go skiing with friends, she was invited to stay at the Just for Laughs company apartment.

On the third day of her stay in that Paris apartment, Rozon showed up and they chatted together, Snyder testified. After, she went to bed, and was woken up to a feeling of pressure on her back.

“I opened my eyes and there was a hand on my chest … I felt something inside me. I felt my pyjamas being pulled inside me. I felt a pushing,” she told the court.

At first, she testified, she thought she was being attacked by someone who had broken in.

“When I turned around, I felt relieved because I saw that it wasn’t a criminal with a knife. I saw Gilbert Rozon’s face.” She thought he had simply gone to the wrong room but quickly realized that wasn’t the case as Rozon was naked in front of her, she said.

“It was like he was in a trance. It wasn’t the same person. His eyes were bulging. He had a crazy look on his face and he wasn’t talking,” she said.

“I told myself, ‘I’m not going to be killed, but I’m going to be raped.'”

Snyder said she asked to go to the bathroom and once there decided to escape. After telling Rozon she was going to make a cup of coffee, Snyder instead grabbed her purse and took off.

“When I got to the street, I ran for my life. I ran like I’ve never run before,” she said.

“I didn’t even tell my mother,” she said, explaining she did not want to denounce Rozon, whom she considered one of the most powerful and influential men in Quebec, because she feared being judged and how going public would affect her career.

Snyder has hosted and produced some of Quebec’s most popular television shows, including “Star Académie” and the Quebec version of “Deal or No Deal.”

In 1998 Snyder said she finally confided in someone for the first time — one of her colleagues.

After Gilbert Rozon pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman and received an absolute discharge in 1998, Snyder shared a meal with Rozon in Paris. Snyder said she didn’t confront him directly but told him he was “sick” and needed therapy.

In 2017, when several people went public with accusations against Rozon, she filed a complaint with Montreal police.

In her testimony Thursday, Snyder said she felt some guilt, wondering if she could have helped prevent others from allegedly being victimized if she had spoken up sooner.

“The law that best protects aggressors is the law of silence,” she said.

But Snyder’s complaint never made it to criminal court.

After meeting with 14 alleged victims, Quebec prosecutors only retained one complaint, which was used to charge him with rape and indecent assault. However, in December 2020 a judge found him not guilty. The judge described the complainant’s testimony as “credible,” but noted that there had been “imprecisions” that affected the reliability of her testimony.

Later, a group of alleged victims calling themselves “the courageous ones,” filed a class-action lawsuit against the Just For Laughs founder, which was eventually rejected by the Court of Appeal, but the plaintiffs were invited to file lawsuits individually.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Chantal Tremblay is hearing lawsuits from the nine women together in a single trial.

Snyder does not count herself among the nine plaintiffs but her testimony is an attempt by them to establish that Rozon allegedly had a history of sexual assault.

Rozon is suing Snyder and Pénélope McQuade, a radio host at Radio-Canada, for $450,000 for comments they made about him on television in 2020.

Rozon has denied the allegations against him. Last week, his legal team said during the opening of the trial that the women had communicated with each other and “contaminated” each other’s stories.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2024.

Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press