A woman playing Kim Kardashian in a French gameshow skit had her breast kissed on live television.
Not just without consent, but actively against her will.
The incident took place on the popular French TV show TPMP (Touche pas à mon poste!) in 2016, as part of project 35heuresdebaba ('35 hours of Baba'), in which TV presenter Cyril Hanouna tried to break a national record by appearing on air for 35 hours straight.
Ironically, touche pas translates as 'don't touch'.
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Soraya was playing Kim Kardashian, in a parody of the Paris robbery. Game show host Jean-Michel Maire was playing the locksmith.
When she was 'freed', Maire suggested that Soraya should kiss him as a form of compensation.
She refused.
They ignored her, and she continued to refuse. Explicitly.
"No."
"She said yes. She said yes."
"I said no."
And then they demanded that she justify her refusal.
When she answered that people were watching, the presenters had a response ready.
Well, we can do it backstage!Both men were laughing at 21-year-old Soraya, who was smiling uncomfortably and continued to pressure her for a kiss on the cheek.
Eventually, Maire decided he would ignore her refusal, and go in for her cheek. When she turned her head away to avoid it, he ducked down and kissed her breast instead.
The issue of consent issue is completely clear. There's no miscommunication or misinterpretation: no ambiguity.
She said no. Twice. And turned her face away.
The incident caused a slew of complaints at the time to the Conseil Superior d 'Audiovisual (CSA), the government body which regulates French TV and radio, which launched an investigation into the show.
According to a spokesperson for network C8, which airs the 35-hour program, Hanouna asked Maire to apologise to her immediately after the incident, which Soraya says he did.
French law defines sexual assault as 'any sexual act that involves violence, coercion, threat or surprise', and could incur a jail sentence of up to five years and a fine of 75,000 Euros.
Representatives for TPMP declined to comment but told indy100 that there would be no press release or statement on social media.
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