While accusations of sexual harassment target Slimane, the Saint-Etienne prosecutor’s office announced the opening of an investigation against the singer. The man who filed complaints against the artist for sexual harassment mentions tangible elements.
This Thursday, November 7, an investigation for “sexual harassment aggravated by the use of a digital or electronic medium” was opened by the Sainte-Etienne public prosecutor’s office against the singer Slimane, according to information from BFMTV. The investigation was entrusted to the Organized and Specialized Crime Division of the Interdepartmental Directorate of the National Police of the Loire, indicated the public prosecutor of Saint-Etienne in a press release.
As a reminder, a complaint was filed for sexual harassment against the singer on Monday, October 28. The alleged facts would have taken place on the night of December 17 to 18, 2023 at the Zénith in Saint-Étienne during the star’s “Cupid Tour” tour, according to the man who made the accusations. Slimane risks a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 15,000 euros if the facts are proven.
“The singer insists and takes him to his dressing room”
According to information from Parisianthe technician who accuses Slimane would have, according to his version of the facts, been blocked against a wall by the artist, who would have “imposed[é]” then “an embrace”. A scene which would have taken place after the concert, backstage, during a party organized to mark the end of the first part of the tour, around one o’clock in the morning. “Slimane explains to him that he wants to have sex with him. His interlocutor replies that he is not interested, that he is heterosexual and married, but the singer insists and takes him to his dressing room,” explains the daily.
In the columns of Parisianthe plaintiff’s lawyer, Me Anne-Sophie Charrieras, reports that despite the state of unease in which her client was plunged, Slimane would have insisted with the latter, asking him if “other members of the team” might be interested. After leaving his dressing room and joining the tour bus, he would have received “for two and a half hours a multitude of messages and videos of a sexual, even pornographic, nature”, assures the magistrate.
The next morning, the technician recounts the alleged facts to the company that employs him. The latter relayed the information to the tour’s production company – Play Two – and informed it of its decision to withdraw its two employees from Slimane’s tour. Still according to information from ParisianSlimane and his manager were received by the production to be “reminded of the ethical principles of their collaboration”. A new team has been recruited for a resumption of concerts planned for February 2025.
If rumors are circulating according to which the technician accusing Slimane was offered money in return for his silence, his lawyer wanted to remove all suspicion: “Since the facts (my client) has been worried about the repercussions that this will have on his family and his professional future Slimane is very popular, among people and artists – he is at Enfoirés -, and my client is afraid of being sidelined. However, it is “unbearable to find yourself in the position of the one who was bought. He does not want to throw the artist out to pasture”, she continued in the columns of the Parisian. For their part, the family of the accused contacted by the daily speaks of a “crazy story”, and says they were not aware of the complaint.
TF1 decides to continue its relationship with Slimane
The star of TV shows, known for his role as a juror in The Voice Kids and who represented France at the Eurovision contest last May with the title My love, would have already behaved inappropriately during the “Versus” tour with singer Vitaa. “In the first months of 2024, more or less precise facts come to the media,” indicates The Parisian. On the other hand, here, no complaint has been filed.
Slimane chose not to react directly, and not to comment publicly on this complaint, letting his entourage assure the media that he was very surprised by this affair and by the allegations made by the complainant. The popular singer, who has become an icon of TF1, is now targeted on social networks for his silence. Criticism is also coming against TF1, which has chosen to continue its collaboration with him. Remember that Slimane is presumed innocent and that no binding legal proceedings have been initiated against the artist.