Top French TV Presenter Named in Rape Complaint

One of France's most famous TV presenters, Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, is the subject of a rape investigation, prosecutors told AFP on Thursday.

Poivre d'Arvor, often referred to as PPDA, is a household name that has been presenting the main evening news on the TF1 channel for more than two decades and is a successful novelist, reports AFP.

The prosecutor's office in Nanterre, west of Paris, confirmed that an investigation had been opened, while a lawyer for Poivre d'Arvor had denied the allegations against him.

A statement issued in his name called the claims "absurd and false," adding that they were an attempt by the plaintiff to promote a book.

The BFM news channel and Le Parisien newspaper reported that writer Florence Porcel, 37, had accused Poivre d’Arvor of raping her on several occasions between 2004 and 2009.

Poncel published an autobiographical novel in January called Pandorini in which she recounts the “destruction of the innocence of a young adult by a powerful man,” according to her publisher.

France is in the midst of a new wave of new allegations of sexual assault sparked by a book published at the beginning of January that uncovered explosive allegations of incest in a politically connected and wealthy Parisian family.

For the past six weeks, new claims have come to light almost daily against figures in politics and the entertainment industry in particular.

Experts say the latest reckoning with the scale of child abuse, incest and rape is a consequence of the #MeToo movement in 2017, which broke taboos about sexual violence and saw women worldwide air their experiences on social media.