Patrick Bruel cancels his tour after accusations of sexual violence

His silence had lasted for weeks. In his second public speech on social networks since the proliferation of testimonies and complaints implicating him, Patrick Bruel canceled all the concerts of his tour which was to celebrate the 35th anniversary of his album So look, he announced on his Instagram account this Tuesday evening.

Fueled by the opposition of several mayors to its programming in their city, the pressure increased. The mayors of Chartres, Dijon, Strasbourg and Amiens unanimously condemned his arrival. For her part, Aurore Bergé, Minister responsible for Equality between Women and Men, believed “that he himself should give up being able to hold these concerts”.

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“The conditions are no longer met”

If Patrick Bruel, who maintains his innocence, canceled all his concerts at the end of May until September, he was due to return to the road from October 2, in Chartres, until November 21. A tour that he finances himself. Several major producers in the industry estimated in Le Figaro that producing under these conditions is not viable. “This tour is going to be unbearable,” predicted one.

Patrick Bruel, 67, has been indicted since mid-June in four cases of sexual violence, and placed under the status of assisted witness in four others. At the singer's request, his judicial control was relaxed at the end of July to authorize him to leave French territory, a decision which the prosecution has since appealed. At least ten complaints were filed against him for acts of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault.

“I deeply wished that this tour could take place. But the conditions are simply no longer there for these concerts to remain what they should have been: moments of music and sharing,” believes the artist.

“I refuse to allow the public and the teams to be taken to task, in a debate that has no place in a concert hall. And above all, I refuse to put them at any risk,” continues Patrick Bruel, who claims not to be constrained by justice and wants “appeasement”. “I see that today,” this tour has “become something else,” he continues in his text, adding “that it has become the incarnation of a debate that goes beyond it.”

For its part, the feminist collective NousToutes, which mobilized at the end of May in Paris to disrupt a play in which Patrick Bruel was playing, welcomed the cancellation of an “indecent” tour, seeing it as the result of a strong activist mobilization. “We salute the enormous feminist mobilization which enabled Patrick Bruel to no longer be able to perform on stage. The lesson is that mobilizations make it possible to deprogram such attackers,” reacted Claudia, who did not want to give her name, for NousToutes. “This tour was indecent, an insult to the victims,” continued the activist.