Fashion Designer Galliano Rants: 'I Love Hitler'

LONDON -- Damning new footage emerged today of John Galliano hurling anti-Semitic abuse at two young women he thought were Jewish. The British fashion designer can be heard saying, "I love Hitler" in the cell-phone film, and ranting, "People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f---ing gassed."

The bombshell video was shot in La Perle -- the same Parisian cafe where the chief designer at Christian Dior was arrested Thursday after allegedly calling another woman "a dirty Jew face" and an "ugly, disgusting whore." He is also alleged to have threatened the woman's boyfriend, saying, "F---ing Asian b-----d, I'll kill you." The couple filed a criminal complaint, accusing the tailor of "causing injury of an anti-Semitic and racist nature."

Galliano has been suspended from Dior pending an inquiry.

This morning, Gibraltar-born Galliano, 50, attended a meeting with his accusers -- identified as art historian Geraldine Bloch, 35, and Philippe Virgiti, 41 -- at a Paris police station. Both parties were given the chance to set out their account of events in front of investigators. No further information has been released about today's encounter.

Bloch told Europe 1 news on Friday that she felt morally compelled to take action against Galliano -- whom she had never heard of before Thursday. "I'm not Jewish, but in this case, I feel a solidarity with an Arab person and a Jewish person," she said. Bloch's race and religion are irrelevant under French law, as any person suspected of making anti-Semitic remarks can be charged with "incitement to racial prejudice."

Galliano could be hit with a six-month jail term if he's found guilty of that crime

The designer -- who is close friends with Madonna, Kylie Minogue, and France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy -- has denied any wrongdoing and claimed that Bloch and Vergiti verbally abused him. Galliano's lawyer, Stephane Zerbib, announced this weekend that the designer intended to countersue the couple for defamation of character.

But the emergence of the new video -- which can be seen on the website of British tabloid The Sun -- is likely to hinder Galliano's legal battle. The footage starts with the clearly drunk designer making pro-Nazi statements to a group of French and Italians gathered on La Perle's terrace. (No one in the group was Jewish, The Sun reports).

A woman can be heard saying, "Oh my God," before asking Galliano if he had a problem. "With you," he slurs. "You're ugly." When the woman asks where he is from, the clothier answers: "Your a------." It is not clear when the footage was taken, and Zerbib today declined to comment on the video, Reuters reports.

A 48-year-old woman also contacted police on Saturday and made yet another complaint against Galliano, alleging that she was also subjected to a similar tirade at the cafe in October. French daily Le Parisien reports that the woman didn't contact officers earlier as she believed Galliano was drunk and acting out of character. However, after Thursday's incident, she felt the need to come forward. It is not known if she is one of the women insulted in the video.

Zerbib has dismissed the woman's accusations. "When you are a victim of anti-Semitic or racist remarks, you do not wait four months [to lodge a complaint]," Zerbib told Reuters. "I question the opportunism of this new complaint."