a Booba concert in Casablanca canceled by the authorities for the “sexism” of the lyrics – Liberation

2023-06-06 22:00:55

A concert of the rapper was canceled by local authorities. On social networks, Internet users have welcomed this decision, denouncing insulting words against Moroccan women in certain titles of Booba.

Cover me this sexism that I cannot see! A concert by the rapper, which was scheduled for June 21 in Casablanca, was canceled by local authorities. Confirming information from the website of the Moroccan magazine Tel Quel, an official of the organization attributed this cancellation to a refusal from the prefecture of Casablanca-Anfa, where the rapper was to perform.

This cancellation is part of a call for a boycott of the rapper’s concert. Very popular in Morocco, Booba has been implicated on Moroccan social networks for having made blasphemous and misogynistic remarks in some of his tracks. Among the decried words: “I go to the shisha only for the beurettes”, “Little Moroccan fucks Berlusconi” or “Poor Marie was a virgin, she snapped my fingers in the c *****” .

“Hypocrisy”

If the organizers do not make a link between Booba’s remarks and the cancellation, many Internet users welcomed this decision on Twitter: “Unity is strength”, writes one of them while another adds that “It feels good not to have made all this fuss for nothing”. Another twittos, meanwhile, laments “hypocrisy is what is wrong with this country,” regarding the situation of women’s rights in Morocco.

An online petition to have the show canceled has so far collected nearly 4,500 signatures. “Moroccans felt offended to learn that rapper Booba was going to perform in Morocco”, can we read in the introduction of the petition. For its part, the Club of Lawyers in Morocco, a professional association, filed a complaint against Booba “for defamation and insults against Moroccan women”.

The call for the cancellation of the concert of the “Duc de Boulogne” was also supported by the French rapper of Moroccan origin Maes. The latter, a former protege of Booba, urged his Twitter followers to sign the petition and challenged him: “Know that you are not welcome”. The Islamist opposition party Justice and Development (PJD) had also demanded the cancellation of the concert in a written parliamentary question addressed to the Minister of Youth and Culture.

Despite everything, the organizers still believed in the possibility of maintaining the event. If it has no direct relationship, it seems, the cancellation of the French rapper’s concert is part of a context of persistent diplomatic freeze between Rabat and Paris. In 2017, the rapper performed at one of the most important festivals in the country, Mawazine Rhythms of the World in Rabat. There were then drained 100,000 spectators according to local media. His rap at the time was not recognized for its gentleness towards women.