Stylite – Stephane Zerbib, who’s been John Galliano‘s lawyer for the past seven years, is Jewish. And as far as he’s observed, his star client isn’t racist or anti-Semitic so much as he’s a guy who got drunk, took too many pills, and got taped saying some really, really racist and anti-Semitic things.

Zerbib has been the target of threats and harassment since the beginning of Galliano’s scandal, which started in a bar in Paris and is far from over. Galliano has been fired from his cushy job as creative director and couturier atDior, and will have to stand trial for hurling racist insults at a couple in public. Zerbib told Y Net News that his religion won’t prevent him from defending Galliano in court and in the press, because he’s observed him to be “polite, courteous, very human.” Excerpts from Zerbib’s interview, which reveal his relationship with the designer, his thoughts on that infamous video, and what he blames for this whole mess.