The first edition of the Fabu'Loos Music Food Truck Festival, which will be held the weekend of September 24 in the town of Loos (Hauts-de-France), promised to be a family event without fuss.
But now a disruptive element has come to disturb the festivities.
Late headliner of the festival, singer Jean-Luc Lahaye was to perform during a showcase.
Except that the announcement, on September 13, of his arrival sparked an outcry on Facebook.
To read also
Stars 80, the continuation
: the controversial scene with Jean-Luc Lahaye withdrawn from the film
"Aren't you ashamed to invite a pedophile?"
,
"The city will still have a beautiful image ..."
, shoot some.
"Keep your young girls close to you!"
, others joke.
It must be said that the judicial past of the 68-year-old singer is not to serve him.
The former star of the 1980s was notably sentenced in 2015 to a one-year suspended prison sentence for
"minor corruption"
, after asking a 14-year-old girl to indulge in sex games by webcam.
Already in 2007, Lahaye was fined 10,000 euros for having had sexual relations with a 15-year-old minor.
Backpedaling
The back-pedaling of the municipality of Loos is not long: on September 16, the city announces that one of the companies organizing the event, Divan Production, has decided to deprogram the concert. Asked by our colleagues from
La Voix du Nord
, Stéphane Lelièvre, from the Sam Lion company, fell from the clouds. In February 2020, the same artist had performed in the neighboring town, in Haubourdin.
“He had a full house and it was not at all controversial!
And we are one kilometer from Loos,
”he protests.
He especially wishes to underline the good will at the origin of this unexpected invitation:
“For me, it is like a gift to be able to invite an artist of the 1980s. He was in the area, it was the occasion to make magnify this festival.
I am obviously against everything that is outside the law.
But are we sentenced to life when he has served his sentence?
I just want to bring a smile. "
To read also
Stars 80, the continuation
: the very dubious joke of Jean-Luc Lahaye on the high school girls
Also according to the regional daily, the controversy benefited from the relay of feminist networks in Lille, the latter calling via Facebook to put pressure on the municipality.
For its part, the town hall of Loos told our colleagues, Wednesday, September 22, that
"the artist is finally unavailable"
adding to be
"sorry if the information may have offended some people"
.