“If the passage bothers the police chief, I will remove it and I will talk about butterflies and blue flowers”: anti-vax singer Francis Lalanne challenged the ban on his show with Dieudonné on Friday during a hearing at the administrative court of Paris.
The controversial 57-year-old comedian, repeatedly convicted of inciting hatred and anti-Semitism, was absent from the hearing and was not represented by his lawyer. Francis Lalanne and Dieudonné were to perform on September 14 at the Zénith in Paris for their new show “La Cage aux fous”.
Risks of “serious disturbances to public order” according to the prefecture
The prefect of police Laurent Nuñez on Wednesday banned the holding of the performance, in particular for “serious risks (…) of serious disturbances to public order” and for “fear that Mr. Dieudonné M’bala M’bala will distance himself from the script and makes reprehensible remarks.”
At the hearing, Francis Lalanne’s lawyer recalled that the script for the show had been sent to the prefect during the summer. “He replied that passages from the script bothered him,” said Me Emmanuel Ludot, adding that these passages were then withdrawn.
“Dieudonné is an artist of improvisation”, retorted the representative of the police headquarters, before reading an extract from the final script which thanks in particular Stéphane Blet, essayist “anti-Semitic and condemned for provocation to hatred and racial slur”, died in January 2022.
Lalanne denounces “latent censorship”
“I was asked twice to make changes, which seems unacceptable to me in the land of freedoms”, carried away the singer with long tied hair and black leather boots, dressed in wide trousers and a suit jacket.
While the representative of the police headquarters mentions another passage, which “presents a very high risk of insult and call for discrimination against LGBT+”, the singer’s lawyer denounces “latent censorship”.
Me Ludot also accused the prefect of police and the manager of the Zénith of “collusion” to prevent the show from taking place. The summary judge will deliver her decision on Monday.