John Galliano replaced by Raf Simons
Raf Simons will be taking over as artistic director at Dior, replacing John Galliano who was fired last year after he made some anti-Semitic remarks. Galliano was fired by Dior following his arrest over an alleged anti-Semitic tirade in a Paris bar. REUTERS

The same day Fashion Week kicked off in New York, Christian Dior's John Galliano was convicted and fined for racial insults he made last year.

A French court convicted John Galliano on Thursday for anti-Semitic remarks he made last year to a couple in a Parisian bar.

The court gave the former Christian Dior designer a suspended $8,400 fine, according to the Los Angeles Times, which he did not have to pay. Galliano did not receive jail time because he told the court he apologized to the couple for his racial insults and had admitted to alcohol and drug problems.

The court said Galliano was generally, neither racist nor anti-Semitic and did not deserve a prison term. Galliano underwent two months of treatment for drug and alcohol addictions.

Video footage of a drunk Galliano spewing off racial insults in Oct. 2010 spread around the Internet like wildfire, ultimately leading to his own demise. Galliano claims he did not remember the event, and a second event that occurred in Feb. this year, due to being on the influence of drugs.

Galliano was fired from Dior as its creative director directly after his arrest when he made the remarks.

The fact that the name of Dior has been linked through its designer, as brilliant as he may be, to intolerable words, is very painful for us, Sidney Toledano, Dior's chief executive and president, said in a statement.

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