2023-06-07 10:12:26
A Booba concert scheduled for June 21 in Casablanca has been canceled by local authorities, amid a boycott campaign accusing the French rapper of sexism, AFP learned Tuesday, June 6 from the organizers.
Confirming information from the Moroccan magazine website As isan official of the organization simply replied « oui » to the question of whether Booba’s show was canceled. The same source, who requested anonymity, attributed this cancellation to a refusal from the prefecture of Casablanca-Anfa, where the rapper was to perform.
Very popular in Morocco, Booba – Elie Yaffa of his real name – has been questioned on Moroccan social networks for having held “degrading remarks towards Moroccan and North African women” in some of his tracks.
Among the titles criticized by the rapper: E.L.E.P.H.A.N.Twhere the star raps “little Moroccan girl fucks Berlusconi”in reference to a Moroccan woman nicknamed Ruby who had participated in the evenings « flower flower » of the old ” Knight “ Italian when she was a minor. But also “Killer Generation”when Booba sings: “I only go to the shisha for the Arabs. »
An online petition
” Unity is strength “welcomed a user on Twitter after the announcement of the cancellation of the concert. “It feels good not to have done all this fuss for nothing”, wrote an anti-Booba on the same social network. On the other hand, another Internet user was sorry to “hypocrisy is what is wrong with this country”.
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. The Club of Lawyers in Morocco, a professional association, filed a complaint against Booba “for defamation and insults against Moroccan women”confirmed to AFP its president Mourad ElAddi, without further details.
The call for the cancellation of the concert on “Duke of Boulogne” had been 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 Justice and Development Party (Islamist opposition) had also demanded the cancellation of the concert in a written parliamentary question addressed to the Minister of Youth and Culture.
Despite the boycott campaign, the organizers still believed in the possibility of maintaining the event. In 2017, the rapper performed in 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. 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.
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