An investigation has been opened following a report from the Licra denouncing racist publications targeting the Franco-Malian singer Aya Nakamura, who may sing at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, the prosecutor’s office said on Friday.
The 28-year-old singer, crowned female artist at the Victoires de la Musique, has been stigmatized by the far right and has been the subject of numerous racist attacks since the announcement in late February by the weekly magazine L’Express of her potential participation in the July 26th launch event of the Olympic Games, where she could perform songs by Edith Piaf.
This potential participation has not been officially confirmed to date by the singer, the Games organizers, or the Elysee Palace. The investigation, opened after receiving the report on March 13 from Licra “denouncing racist publications against Aya Nakamura,” has been entrusted to the National Unit for Combating Online Hate Speech (PNLH), the prosecutor’s office said.
SOS Racisme also joins in
SOS Racisme announced on Friday in a statement that they will also take legal action, denouncing “waves of racist hatred against Aya Nakamura” and citing as an example the weekend dissemination on social media of a banner from the identitarian collective Les Natifs. The banner read: “No way Aya, this is Paris, not the market in Bamako.”
“The purpose of this banner was to assert that Aya Nakamura – a French artist nonetheless – had no legitimacy to represent France, the artist being referred to Malian origins apparently disqualifying in the eyes of the far right,” SOS Racisme denounced. The artist responded to this banner in a post on her social media: “You can be racist but not deaf… That’s what hurts you! I become a number 1 state subject in debates, etc. but what do I owe you in reality? Nothing.”
Faced with the repeated attacks targeting the most listened-to Francophone singer in the world since her song “Djadja,” Culture Minister Rachida Dati warned on Tuesday against “pretexts for attacking someone out of pure racism.” “Attacking an artist for who she is, is unacceptable, it’s a crime,” she emphasized. Aya Nakamura, one of the heavyweights of R&B in France, released her 4th album DNK last year.
