MONTRÉAL — Just for Laughs founder Gilbert Rozon says the nine women suing him for sexual assault have formed a coalition motivated by money, and claims he has become a symbol of the #MeToo movement.
The cross-examination of the disgraced former comedy mogul began Wednesday at his civil trial in Montreal, where he's being sued in Superior Court for nearly $14 million.
He told the plaintiffs' lawyer, Bruce Johnston, that the women had "invented a truth" for the sake of "huge financial gain." Stopping short of accusing the plaintiffs of a conspiracy, Rozon referred to them as Johnston's "associates" instead of his clients, since they had all agreed to share the proceeds if the court ruled in their favour.
Justice Chantal Tremblay immediately called Rozon to order, instructing him to refer to the women as "the plaintiffs."
Johnston confronted Rozon with a statement he previously made to reporters outside the courtroom, when he said he had decided to fight in court rather than settle the lawsuit to prevent the "legalization of extortion."
"There is a great danger (of legalizing extortion)," Rozon testified on Wednesday. "I am defending the truth, your clients have invented a truth and perhaps some of them even believe it."
He accused the plaintiffs of exaggeration and said their stories have changed over time. Rozon, who started the Just for Laughs comedy festival in the 1980s, claims he had consensual relations with three of the nine women, and denies the other allegations against him.
He repeated those denials on Wednesday, and said he'd become a target of the #MeToo movement, a global campaign raising awareness of sexual violence against women. "I am the symbol of #MeToo," he claimed, adding that he believes the fact that he pleaded guilty to a sexual assault charge in 1998 made him the perfect target.
Rozon said that several other women who are not plaintiffs in the case, but who testified against him, are also part of the "coalition" and influenced each other.
"They are all friends," he said. "They have personal reasons for inventing this truth, or for lying, or professional reasons. Some are lying, others have invented a truth."
His former partner, Véronique Moreau, whose sister Sophie is among the plaintiffs, testified that Rozon sexually assaulted her. Rozon said Moreau's allegations were made only in "solidarity with her sister," and he suggested she might share any damages that the court awards to Sophie.
He also said the actress Salomé Corbo, who alleged that Rozon sexually assaulted her when she was 13 years old, fabricated her testimony to support her stepmother, who is one of the plaintiffs.
Sophie Gagnon, executive director of the legal clinic Juripop, said Rozon's attempt to group the plaintiffs and other witnesses into a coalition is an effort to undermine their credibility. "This is a trial that will play on the credibility of the witnesses," she told reporters outside the courtroom. "So, in Mr. Rozon's version of events, there was a strategy, a form of concerted action with varied motivations, including revenge … and then the desire to obtain money."
Rozon was acquitted in 2020 of rape and indecent assault connected to events alleged to have taken place in 1980, but Gagnon said there is a lesser burden of proof in a civil trial, meaning he could still be found liable despite being acquitted of a criminal charge.
She said one of the challenges in the case is the absence of outside witnesses. "Mr. Rozon is the only witness who can contradict the plaintiffs' allegations," she said. "The difficult work that the judge will have to do is really to determine which witnesses are the most credible and it is really on the basis of the credibility of the witnesses that the judge will be able to make her decision."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 2, 2025.
Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press
