Calls to cancel his concerts, announcement of new complaints of rape: the pressure is increasing on French singer Patrick Bruel, less than a month before the start of his next tour.
The mayors of Paris, Marseille (south) and Brest (west) invited the singer, targeted by four investigations for rape in France and an investigation in Belgium for sexual assault, to give up performing in their cities.
“The presumption of innocence must be guaranteed. But including for the serenity of his defense, I think that indeed, he should retire, he should put his career on hold, until “justice is done,” declared the mayor of the capital, Emmanuel Grégoire, on Wednesday on the France 2 television channel.
Invoking, in a message revealed by the RMC channel and transmitted to AFP, the “seriousness of the accusations made”, the mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan called on the singer to cancel his concert scheduled for October 30 “out of respect for the words of the victims who must be heard”.
Patrick Bruel “should have the decency, without delay, to step aside while the cases against him are judged”, also estimated the mayor of Brest Stéphane Roudaut, recalling however that he did not have the power to cancel his concert scheduled for November 11.
On Tuesday, three concert dates in December in Canada were canceled by the events agency Gestev, in charge of the organization. She explained that she made this decision due to “the current context and the impossibility of ensuring promotion”.
The interpreter of “So look”, “Casser la voix” and “Place des grands hommes” is also the subject of a complaint filed by host Flavie Flament, for a rape that she claims to have suffered in 1991 when she was 16 years old, according to the courts.
“New complaints for rape” are to come, Corinne Herrmann, the host’s lawyer, announced on Tuesday, while the spokesperson for the French government, Maud Bregeon, urged “women to speak, even decades later”, in cases of sexist and sexual violence.
Patrick Bruel, 67, contests all the facts with which he is accused, claiming to have “never forced” a woman into sexual relations. He explained that he had a “brief affair” with Flavie Flament, adding that “there was neither rape nor drugs”.
Her lawyer Christophe Ingrain tried on Tuesday to minimize the age gap between the host and her client, aged 32 at the time but “who was much less”.
Fans there
Echoing this freedom of speech, a petition, supported by feminist associations and which had collected more than 25,000 signatures on Wednesday, calls for the cancellation of the artist’s next concerts.
His tour is due to start on June 16 at the Cirque d’Hiver in Paris, then visit numerous French cities, Switzerland and Belgium. But no longer in Canada, then.
The mayor of Paris, for his part, explained that he did not have the authority to cancel the Parisian concerts, including one planned in the main hall of the Zénith and scheduled for October. “I think he should cancel them himself,” he said.
For now, Patrick Bruel is starring in a play by Samuel Benchetrit, at the Edouard VII theater in Paris, where his audience still shows their loyalty to him, AFP noted Tuesday evening.
“At the moment it’s word for word. We will see later, if a conviction falls,” argued Stéphanie, 58 years old and “a lifelong fan”, in front of the Parisian private theater, which has strengthened its security system.
Sylvie, another fifty-year-old spectator, confided that she was “a little hesitant” to come. “For the moment, justice has not ruled, but it is true that it is a little complicated in principle to be there and undoubtedly to applaud him at the end of the play,” she slipped.
The fans always rally around the artist. On May 14, around thirty fans waited for him after the performance to sing “Happy birthday, Patrick!” on the occasion of his 67th birthday.
“Thank you very much, thank you for everything!”, replied, visibly moved, Patrick Bruel, who ruled out leaving the stage at this stage.
