At the Paris Criminal Court (criminal jurisdiction), on December 9, 2025, former host Vincent Cerutti appeared for acts qualified as sexual assault (retained qualification), following buttock bites reported by Caroline Barel, now vice-president of MeTooMedia (association). Prosecutor: six months suspended and a €10,000 fine requested. Between a so-called prank and an invasion of privacy, the hearing shifted the boundary of consent at work.
A Tense Courtroom
The criminal courtroom was packed on this December 9, 2025, when Vincent Cerutti, former morning voice of Chérie FM and former face of TF1, took his place before the judges of the Paris Criminal Court (Paris), a jurisdiction that judges offenses in France. The benches murmured with restrained whispers, eyes slid over the man in the dark suit, in his forties, who stepped forward to answer for acts qualified as "sexual assault with violence, coercion, threat, or surprise." Beside him, Antoine Vey defends a version in which everything would be part of a "good-natured" game. In the front row, Hapsatou Sy, present at the hearing, entrepreneur and TV personality, former partner of the defendant, came to show discreet support, despite a separation he revealed at the stand. Opposite, Caroline Barel, former receptionist, now vice-president of the association MeTooMedia, reiterated the shock, then the long descent that followed.
A rustle of robes, a clearing of the throat. In this chamber, everyone weighs their words. Prosecutor’s requisitions: suspended sentence and fine (six months suspended imprisonment and €10,000 fine), recalls the president. The pencils fall silent for a moment, then resume their course. The judgment will be delivered on February 4, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. Until then, the host remains presumed innocent.
The Reported Facts and the Debate on Qualification
At the heart of the case, two reported buttock bites. The first, in November 2015, in the Paris offices of Chérie FM (morning show): according to Caroline Barel, Vincent Cerutti allegedly grabbed her, pinned her to the ground, hands behind her back, before biting her buttock, causing a bruise documented by a photograph attached to the procedure. Her screams allegedly attracted a colleague. The second time occurred in February 2016, during a group photo. At that moment, positioned behind her, the host allegedly bit her again, more discreetly. The defendant acknowledges the bites but disputes their sexual nature. He situates these actions in a repertoire of office jokes, a "game" he claims was shared.
The entire issue of the hearing hinges on this shift: where the civil party describes non-consensual assaults in a hierarchical setting, the defense speaks of prankishness. The prosecutor, however, insists: the buttocks are an intimate area, and the gesture, when imposed, carries a sexual connotation. Hence the retained qualification: sexual assault (retained qualification), distinct in law from sexual aggression (indictment in 2023). Other media sometimes refer to it imprecisely. The court will decide, and this precision is not merely semantic: it defines the scope of the law and the gradation of penalties.
Words at the Stand: Shock, Shame, and "Good-Natured Game"
At the stand, Caroline Barel speaks of a humiliation that has become entrenched. She mentions a work stoppage, psychological follow-up, and treatments with antidepressants and anxiolytics. Additionally, she talks about a depressive state and dark thoughts she claims to have experienced after the events. Her voice rises without pathos, but the words remain heavy. She places the episode in a "prankish" work atmosphere, where alcohol sometimes circulated, where the host liked to "make people laugh," often at the expense of bodies.
Vincent Cerutti responds by linking these actions to newsroom folklore, to the "horseplay" of a team brought together by the early hours of a morning show. He cites the slogan, "Every bent butt deserves its due," and assumes a sense of humor. However, he denies any sexual intent and explains that he has never repeated these actions in private. He assures that they do not belong to his private life. He finally advances a career at a standstill, he says, since the media coverage of the case: no more studios, no more airwaves, a tarnished image.
A Newsroom Culture Called into Question
Throughout the testimonies, a corporate culture emerges, described as "prankish" by several employees. Indeed, team spirit often merged with physical familiarities. A witness, who was a colleague, claims that "90% of the team" experienced these bites. Others speak of the discomfort felt, the inappropriate nature of these actions in a professional setting. The defense, for its part, emphasizes that the complainant herself allegedly participated in biting games with colleagues. The civil party retorts that the argument of "everyone played along" does not erase the essential question: who consents, when, and to what?
In post-#MeToo French society, these scenes, once tolerated, clash with increased vigilance. Consent has become a cardinal reference at work, in newsrooms and elsewhere. The hearing inadvertently recalled the hierarchy of offenses, highlighting the importance of the power of the media figure. Indeed, its influence on the more junior members is significant. The president reminds that a joke, to remain, requires an equal freedom of the protagonists. The joke ends when it hurts.
A Long Procedure with Successive Twists
The judicial journey illustrates the slowness and thresholds of a sensitive case. December 2017: first complaint by Caroline Barel. June 2019: case dismissed. May 2020: new complaint with civil party constitution, which opens a judicial investigation. In 2023, Vincent Cerutti is indicted for sexual aggression (indictment in 2023). Then comes the referral to the criminal court for sexual assault (retained qualification). December 9, 2025: hearing in the heart of the Parisian winter, full room, witnesses and lawyers succeed one another. This chronology is not just a ribbon of dates: it tells of the resistance of versions, the weight of words, the demand for proof.
Defense Lines and the Strategy of Doubt
For Antoine Vey, the challenge is to defuse the sexualization of the gesture. He pleads clumsiness, casualness, team culture, the absence of intent to harm. He denounces a "media lynching" and the polarization of public debate around sexual violence in the audiovisual sector. Furthermore, he highlights a growing confusion between freedom of tone and criminally punishable transgression. The argument unfolds in two parts: minimizing the scope of the bites, relativizing the symbolic charge of the targeted body part.
The public prosecutor, on the other hand, insists on the repetition of the actions, their target, and their context: a colleague, in a workplace, outside of any consensual game. The civil party, represented by Samya Bouiche, narrates the psychological impact, the shock, the shame, and the endangerment of an employee who knew she had no leverage. Beyond the specific case, the lawyer recalls the asymmetry between star host and team members. Moreover, she highlights the difficulty for witnesses to name what they feel when the atmosphere "goes off track."
A Separation Made Public at the Stand
In the course of personality questions, Vincent Cerutti confirmed having separated from Hapsatou Sy about a year and a half ago. He took care to emphasize the maintenance of good terms for the education of their children, Abbie and Isaac. Furthermore, he stressed that these actions have no place in his private life. The information, delivered solely within the framework of the hearing, functions here as a contextual element: it sheds light on a moment in life, but says nothing about the substance. The president refocuses. The questions resume, and we return to the law.
Consent, Culture, and Responsibility
The hearing reminded that consent is not a tacit ambiance, but a clear expression. Moreover, it can be withdrawn at any time. A game ceases to be one if one refuses. Furthermore, silence has never meant agreement. Additionally, fear or hierarchy constrain. A professional setting requires particular vigilance, especially when one holds a position of exposure or authority.
In the audiovisual sector as elsewhere, notoriety does not exempt from the common rule. MeTooMedia (association), of which Caroline Barel has become vice-president, advocates for this reminder to cease being seen as a prudish inconvenience and to be understood as a safety norm. The association cites prevention formats and training emerging in newsrooms. Management, on their side, learn to document deviations, to listen without disqualifying, to act without excess.
The Weight of Words and the Time of Justice
At a time when networks compress everything into hashtags, the court, on the other hand, unfolds. It reinscribes words in the law: "assault" is not "aggression," "joke" is not "consent." It recalibrates the workspace as a protected space. At the end of the requisitions, glances cross, journalists note, lawyers recombine. The host reaffirms that, for him, it is only a misunderstood office game. The complainant, on the other hand, asks that the suffering experienced cease to be a non-event.
On February 4, 2026, the verdict will say what, in law, separates ribaldry from assault, familiarity from constraint. Until then, the principle of presumption of innocence prevails, and caution is also required in words. It is the responsibility of anyone writing about these lives in suspense.
This article recounts a public hearing and contradictory positions. Vincent Cerutti is presumed innocent until the judgment is pronounced in February 2026.