45 years after his death, Claude François is resurrected on social networks. It is not so much his songs that mark Internet users, but more the singer’s attraction to young girls and his relationships with them. Singer who is little known to Gen Z – perhaps they will have heard This year in a 70s evening – the dark past of Claude François seems to preoccupy them. But how can these cases left abandoned at the time resurface online? Here are some hypotheses.
Archives
On the Internet, no archive disappears from the eyes of the general public and social networks are often greedy for them. On TikTok, the interview by Claude François given in the 1970s to Belgian public media, there RTBF, is clearly shared. During this exchange, his attraction to young girls is beyond doubt. “I loved it until I was 17-18, then I started to be wary. Of course, I have adventures beyond the age of 18, fortunately, but after 18 I am wary, because girls start to think, they are no longer natural, it sometimes even starts before. And then, we find this human and balanced form after a good thirty years. There is a sort of horrible average between 18 and 30 years old.”
More recently, the broadcast of a documentary on W9 entitled “Claude François, the last secrets” was also widely covered on TikTok. An account called “Exciting reports” even devotes around sixty publications to it, which accumulate between 50,000 and 100,000 views for each video. In the comments, Internet users question the ignorance of the time. “It’s another world, this kind of speech didn’t shock anyone”, “Pedophilia was common at the time, like it’s Claude François who sees kids and that was normal”.
The resumption of Star’ Ac
Second hypothesis, the homage to television. For several weeks, Star Ac’ has dedicated some highlights on stage to old and contemporary artists. However, this accumulation of problematic personalities seems to be annoying Internet users. For the last bonus of the year 2023, on December 30, dedicated to the world of boom, time was devoted to Claude François and his famous Alexandria Alexandra. Which doesn’t go over well with young viewers. “Don’t forget that all the students sang Claude François so we will all boycott from now on, thank you,” suggests one of them.
It could have ended there, but the following week the show once again irritated viewers by offering songs by Lomepal, a rapper accused of rape. By interpreting Too handsome, Pierre – one of the candidates – made several comments. “Bruel, Claude François and now Michael Jackson and Lomepal, it’s out to kill us,” says the first. “And meanwhile Star ac promotes Claude François who raped teenagers,” scolds another.
The Depardieu effect
More broadly, impunity no longer seems to pass to the younger generation and the Depardieu affair – targeted by several complaints for sexual assault or rape – recently does not help matters. Enough to highlight the many cases that have been kept silent for many years. “Before Depardieu, Claude François too”, titles many videos on TikTok.
The most striking example of rejection would undoubtedly be the boom around the film The consent a few weeks ago on TikTok. Released last October in theaters, the film adapted from Vanessa Springora’s book was a real success thanks to a trend on the social network. The idea for Internet users? Film yourself before then after the film with a decomposed expression. One thing is certain: notions of “consent” and cases of sexual assault are being taken more and more seriously among young people.