France's Got Talent suspended after top judge Gilbert Rozon accused of sexual abuse

French TV has pulled hit show France's Got Talent after its top judge, Canadian producer Gilbert Rozon, was accused of sexual assault and harassment.

Mr Rozon stepped down as head of the 'Just for Laughs' comedy festival in Montreal on Wednesday, after a comedian publicly accused him of being an "aggressor" following allegations from a number of women.

Montreal police have opened an investigation into an alleged sexual aggression involving Mr Rozon that took place in Paris in 1994, Radio Canada reported.

Nine women alleged in interviews with Canadian newspaper Le Devoir, they had been victims of sexual harassment or aggression involving Mr Rozon over the past three decades. 

A former intern at the Just For Laughs festival also told TVA Nouvelles that she had been victim of two "incidents" during an interview with Mr Rozon in 2010. 

Consequently, French private channel M6 announced it was suspending France's Got Talent - which was due to air next week - "without judging the truth" of the accusations against Mr Rozon, the Simon Cowell figure on the show's panel of judges, famed for his bitter judgments. It will replace it with Gallic equivalents of Kitchen Nightmares and A Place in the Sun. 

Since 2006, Mr Rozon had been a stalwart of the show, now in its 12 season, and is a household name in France. 

The 62-year-old impresario is the latest powerful man to be caught in the fallout from the Harvey Weinstein scandal, after the Hollywood mogul was accused of decades of sexual abuse and harassment.

"Shaken by the allegations against me, I want to dedicate all my time to review the matter," Mr Rozon wrote on Facebook.

"To all those who I may have offended in my life, I'm sincerely sorry."

An M6 spokesman said that the show had not been scrapped. "Its broadcast has been suspended but it will return later," he said.

According to Le Parisien, M6 only learned of police action on Thursday morning, plunging the producers into a "terrible emergency". They had already recorded five programmes this summer, at a cost of around €2 million. 

David Ginola, the former French international footballer who played for several Premiership clubs, is the show's host.

This season's semi-finals were due to be recorded "in the coming days".

The Weinstein scandal has unleashed a torrent of reaction from French film figures, politicians and online commentators.

French film star Marion Cotillard wrote on Instagram: "More than once in my career I was confronted to a situation where I had to dodge predators. All the brave women who have spoken up are hopefully opening a new chapter."

However, Catherine Deneuve was more cautious, saying she didn't want to "cast moral judgment" over the affair.

"Everyone is naturally against it. I don't see what I can bring that is new and I don't want to add my words to others. Above all because there is, for me, a stampede that is quite vile."

She also questioned the validity of Twitter hashtag #balancetonporc (Squeal on the Pigs), which has become a space for thousands of French women to denounce sexual harassment in the work place.

"Is it interesting to speak like that? Does it provide relief? Does it bring something? Does it resolve the problem in any way?," she said on BFMTV. 

Ms Deneuve previously sparked controversy for slamming "shocking" feminist calls for film director Roman Polanski, to be fired from his post as president of the 2017 César awards, French equivalent of the Oscars, after accusations of raping a 13-year old girl in 1977.

"It's a case that has been judged and dealt with. There were agreements between Roman Polanski and this woman…I like women very much but I don't understand feminists," she said. 

But Muriel Salmona, a psychiatrist and well-known author on sexual harassment, said it was a huge victory that women were now speaking out.

"The wind is turning in favour of the victims of sexual violence", she told L'Obs magazine.  On Friday, she will present to France's gender equality minister a petition calling for an end to "impunity" of abusive men and a "Marshall plan" against harassment. 

The government this week announced its intention to pass a law early next year granting police powers to hand out on-the-spot fines to men who sexually harass women in public.