Christian Dior Firing Designer John Galliano

First Published: March 1, 2011 11:28 AM EST Credit: Getty Images

PARIS, France -- Caption Designer John Galliano attends the Dior celebration of the reopening of its 57th Street Boutique at the LVMH Tower Magic Room on December 8, 2010 in New York CityFrench fashion house Christian Dior says it is firing famed designer John Galliano after an online video showed him praising Adolf Hitler.

Christian Dior said Tuesday Galliano has been immediately laid off, just days after he was suspended as its creative director pending an investigation into an alleged anti-Semitic incident in a Paris cafe last week.

A video posted online Monday showed Galliano, in a different incident, drunkenly telling a cafe patron “I love Hitler.”

The house said in a statement: “Today, because of the particularly odious nature of the behavior and words of John Galliano in a video made public this Monday, the Christian Dior house has decided to lay him off immediately and has begun firing procedures against him.”

Dior had came under pressure after Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman, one of the company’s spokesmodels, said in a statement she “will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way.”

Christian Dior on Friday suspended Galliano pending an investigation. The house is scheduled to present its fall-winter 2011-2012 ready-to-wear show on Friday as part of Paris fashion week.

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