Morocco: Booba's concert in Casablanca cancelled by the authorities

They will not have the opportunity to hear the new single, entitled "Signed", that the Duke of Boulogne is to be released on June 16. A concert of Booba, scheduled for June 21 in Casablanca, has been canceled by local authorities, amid a boycott campaign accusing the French rapper of sexism, we learned Tuesday from the organizers.

Confirming information from the website of the Moroccan magazine Tel Quel, an official of the organization simply answered "yes" to the question of whether Booba's show was canceled. The same source, who requested anonymity, attributed the cancellation to a refusal by the prefecture of Casablanca-Anfa, where the rapper was to perform.

Very popular in Morocco, Booba - Elie Yaffa of his real name - was questioned on Moroccan social networks for having made "degrading remarks towards Moroccan and North African women" in some of his songs. Among the rapper's maligned titles: "E.L.E.P.H.A.N.T", where the star raps "little Moroccan slapstick Berlusconi", in reference to a Moroccan girl nicknamed Ruby who had participated in the "bunga bunga" parties of the former Italian "Cavaliere" when she was a minor. But also "Generation assassin", when Booba sings: "I go to the Chicha only for the beurettes".

A complaint for "defamation and insults" against Booba

"Unity is strength," said 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 netizen lamented "hypocrisy, that's what's wrong with this country".

An online petition to cancel the show has so far garnered nearly 4,500 signatures. "Moroccans felt offended to learn that rapper Booba was going to perform in Morocco," the petition reads. 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.

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The call for the cancellation of the "Duke of Boulogne" concert was supported by Moroccan-born French rapper Maes. The latter, a former protégé of Booba, urged his followers on Twitter to sign the petition and called on him: "Know that you are not welcome." The Islamist opposition Justice and Development party (PJD) had also called for the cancellation of the concert in a written parliamentary question addressed to the Minister of Youth and Culture.

Despite the boycott campaign, 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. It had attracted 100,000 spectators, according to local media. If it has no direct connection, it seems, the cancellation of the concert of the French rapper is part of a context of persistent diplomatic freeze between Rabat and Paris.