PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia 76ers have decided not to build a $1.3 billion downtown arena, a surprising move that comes just weeks after the team received approval for the controversial project from the city council.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday that multiple council members had confirmed the change in plans. The team has struck a deal with Comcast Spectacor to remain in the city's sports stadium district, the newspaper said, but further details about the new proposal have not been released.
The 76ers, the mayor's office and Comcast Spectator — which owns the Wells Fargo Center, where the team currently plays — did not respond Sunday to requests for comment. The team rents the arena from Comcast Spectacor, which also owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL, who also play there.
Opponents of the arena's move to downtown celebrated the news.
Two City Council members who voted against the plan, Jamie Gauthier and Rue Landau, said the reversal shows that the 76ers' development arm had not dealt in good faith with the city.
“We’re glad that the Sixers will remain in the stadium district where they best belong. But the way they reached this decision reflects a profound lack of respect for City leaders, stakeholders, and residents," Gauthier and Rue said in a statement.
The 76ers' downtown development plan had pitted working-class Philadelphians against each another and the team had pressured City Council to consider a “half-baked” proposal that left open questions about gridlock and the displacement of the city's Chinatown section, they said.
The council had voted on Dec. 19 to approve the downtown arena after more than two years of heated debate over the proposal, and the owners of the NBA team had hoped to move in to what would be called 76 Place by 2031. The council vote came despite vocal opposition from nearby Chinatown residents and other activists.
“I’m so livid right now I don’t even know what to do,” Jimmy Harrity, an at-large member of the council, told the newspaper. Harrity, who supported the team’s move, said, “I feel as though I was used as a pawn.”
Mayor Cherelle Parker, a Democrat who had championed the plan, has said the entire city will benefit from what she called a “historic game-changing economic development project.” Supporters had hoped the 18,500-seat arena would help revive a distressed retail corridor called Market East, which runs from City Hall to the Liberty Bell. The area has struggled for years despite several redevelopment efforts.
The team owners, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, had pushed for city approval by year’s end so they could meet their target opening date. They had vowed not to ask the city for any construction funding, although they were free to seek state and federal funds. Instead of property taxes, they would have paid about $6 million in annual payments in lieu of taxes.
Opponents feared the arena would bring gridlock on game days as well as gentrification and rising rents to the area.
The Chinatown community has fought a series of proposed developments since the 1960s, including casinos, a prison, a baseball stadium and a highway, the last of which dissected the neighborhood when it opened in 1991.
The No Arena coalition that had formed to try to block the proposal said in a statement Sunday that City Council's embrace of the 76ers' proposal demonstrated that the city needs politicians who respond to “people's needs instead of corporate greed.”
“We’re relieved to hear that the nightmare of a Center City Sixers arena will not haunt our city any more," the group said in a statement. "To every Philadelphian who called, marched, testified, and warned City Hall that this was a raw deal: This win belongs to you, and the lesson for politicians is to trust the people."
FILE - Philadelphia 76ers mascot Franklin waves the flag during pre-game introductions prior to the NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, April 14, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola, file)
PARIS (AP) — French actor Gérard Depardieu acknowledged Tuesday that he aggressively subjected a woman who accuses him of sexual assault to vulgar and heated language and that he grabbed her hips but denied that his behavior was sexual as he testified for the first time at his landmark trial in Paris.
The woman told the court that the Oscar-nominated actor behaved “like a madman” who took “pleasure in frightening me.”
Day 2 of the Paris trial centered on the 76-year-old actor's behavior during filming in 2021 of “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”), where two co-workers allege that he groped them on the set.
Depardieu has denied assaulting the women. But in his testimony Tuesday in a packed Paris court, Depardieu acknowledged that he had used vulgar and sexualized language with one of the plaintiffs, a 54-year-old set dresser, and grabbed her hips during an on-set argument about the artistic merits of a painting.
Depardieu said he'd been in a “bad mood" because the set was hot, which was hard for him because he is overweight.
“I understand perfectly if she’s a bit upset,” he said in his gruff, deep voice so familiar to cinemagoers. “I don’t have to talk like that, get angry like that, voilà."
But he insisted that he isn't a sexual predator, saying: “I don’t touch women’s butts.”
He recognized that the woman may have felt “suffocated” by his behavior, which he described as a "type of aggression.”
“But certainly not sexual. Non!” he exclaimed, raising his voice.
The actor faces up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros ($81,000) if convicted. The verdict isn't expected immediately after the trial.
After Depardieu spoke first for more than an hour, the set dresser then testified. She described the alleged assault in detail, saying the actor pincered her between his legs as she squeezed past him in a narrow corridor.
She said he grabbed her hips then started “palpating” her behind and "in front, around.” She ran her hands near her buttocks, hips and pubic area to show what she allegedly experienced. She said he then reached for and grabbed her chest.
“That’s when I had a reflex of ‘My God.' I tried to free myself, I tried to take his hands away, I couldn’t do it," she testified. “He terrified me, he laughed, he looked like a madman."
“It was very brief, there was no shouting,” she said, adding that she'd been too “petrified” to speak and that he was too strong for her to break free. She said someone came and removed Depardieu’s hands from her.
“I saw in his eyes a pleasure in frightening me, that’s what I felt, it's savagery,” she said. "He terrified me, and that amused him.”
The woman also testified that Depardieu used an obscene expression to ask her to touch his penis and suggested he wanted to rape her. She told the court that the actor's calm and cooperative attitude during the trial bore no resemblance to his behavior at work.
“Here, he’s exemplary, he doesn’t move, he’s quiet, he doesn’t make any noise," she said. “He’s not like that on the film set: He gesticulates, he grunts, he makes remarks to women."
On the movie set, “he started saying sexual things, talking about his sexual capabilities,” she said.
The second plaintiff, a 34-year-old who worked as an assistant on the film, is yet to testify.
Because of Depardieu’s fame and impact on the French movie industry, his trial is seen as an important test of French willingness to confront sexual violence and hold influential men accountable.
His long and storied career — he told the court that he's made more than 250 films — has turned him into a French movie giant. He was Oscar-nominated in 1991 for his performance as swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac. French President Emmanuel Macron has included himself among Depardieu's many admirers, calling him a “great actor” who "makes France proud.” That was in 2023, when the star was already facing sexual misconduct allegations.
In his testimony, Depardieu said work has dried up as accusations have mounted. Since 2022, he's not had a big-screen lead role.
“That’s horrible what they’re doing to me, calling me a ‘big pig’! I haven’t worked for three years,” he said.
He also has health issues. The actor has undergone a quadruple heart bypass and has diabetes, according to his lawyer. A court-appointed medical expert determined that he’s fit to stand trial, but recommended that the hearings don’t exceed six hours, with regular breaks.
The trial represents another reckoning for France and its attitudes to sexual violence, coming in the wake of the historic case last year involving Gisèle Pelicot. She became a feminist icon when she bravely demanded that the drugging-and-rape trial for 51 men tried for horrific abuse on her be held in open court, arguing that doing so would make shame change sides.
Depardieu said he apologized to the set dresser three days after the alleged assault. He said he recognized that she was in “shock” and “petrified.”
“I’m sorry, this is not what I wanted,” he said.
He acknowledged to the court that his behavior can be boorish.
“I’ve always been told I have a Russian nature, I don’t know if it’s because of the drinking or the vulgarity,” he said. “I have said in black and white that I am a disgusting slob."
But he said he “never, ever” would have pincered a woman between his legs against her will.
“I’m not like that," he said.
Actor Gerard Depardieu, center, leaves with his lawyer Jeremie Assous, right, to the courtroom for a break during his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Karine Silla leaves the courtroom while actor Gerard Depardieu is on trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Actor Anouk Grinberg walks away as actor Gerard Depardieu leaves the courtroom for a break during his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Actor Gerard Depardieu reacts as he leaves the courtroom for a break with his lawyer Jeremie Assous during his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Actor Gerard Depardieu leaves the courtroom for a break during his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Actor Gerard Depardieu, center, returns to the courtroom after a break for his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
A plaintiff returns to the courtroom as actor Gerard Depardieu faces his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
A plaintiff arrives as actor Gerard Depardieu face his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Actor Gerard Depardieu returns to the courtroom after a break for his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Actor Gerard Depardieu, left, arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Actor Gerard Depardieu, second right,, arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous, right,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
A plaintiff arrives as actor Gerard Depardieu face his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Actor Gerard Depardieu, left, arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Actor Gerard Depardieu, left, arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Actor Gerard Depardieu, left, arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
