London – Fashion designer John Galliano, who was convicted in 2011 in a French court for making public anti-Semitic comments to a woman, has been meeting with a rabbi and Holocaust survivor as part of a rehab program.
Galliano has had meetings with Rabbi Barry Marcus of London and Holocaust survivor Harry Olmer, 87, who was a teenager when he was imprisoned in labor camps during the Holocaust, reports the Daily Mail.
Galliano, who was present at a Jewish educational project last week in London, told the crowd that he is an alcoholic, but that it was no excuse for his comments and actions. He said meetings with the rabbi and Olmer have taught him how to be more “spiritual.”
Galliano lost his job with Christian Dior in 2011 after a video came out showing him calling a woman he thought was Jewish that he loved Hitler, that she was a “Jewish whore” and that her parents should have been gassed.
Two other women also filed complaints with police about anti-Semitic comments Galliano made to them.
Galliano returned to the fashion world in January of this year as part of the fashion house Maison Martin Margiela.
