Claude Jutra

Claude Jutra

Claude Jutra (French pronunciation: [klod ʒytʁa]; March 11, 1930 – November 5, 1986) was an openly gay Canadian actor, film director, and screenwriter posthumously said to be a pederast.

The Prix Jutra, and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's Claude Jutra Award, were named in his honour and then later redacted or renamed in 2016, as were streets named for him, following the publication of allegations that he had engaged in pederasty.

In 2016, 30 years after his death following early-onset Alzheimer's disease, interviews with anonymized friends of Jutra claimed he was a pederast. They were made public in journalist Yves Lever's book Claude Jutra, biographie. Lever said that one of Jutra's "victims" was under 14 years old. He also maintained that Jutra's proclivities were known by many people in the industry, "but nobody made a big deal out of it." Lever's attempts to contact who he described as "the main victim", however, were declined.

A later interview alleging pederasty was anonymous, leading to criticism surrounding the ability of anonymous sources to tarnish the legacy of a valued cultural icon.