EDDY DE PRETTO. After the conviction of 11 people for homophobic comments and death threats, Eddy de Pretto is committed against online harassment.
[Mis à jour le 14 décembre 2022 à 11h20] “If I can add my stone to the building against this violence, I am delighted to do so.” After the conviction of eleven of his cyber-harassers by the Paris Criminal Court, Eddy de Pretto comes out of silence. In an interview with Médiapart, the 29-year-old singer confided in his desire to take action against online violence, he who decided to file a complaint against his cyber-stalkers after being attacked on the sidelines of a concert in a Parisian church in 2021.
“Some people think it’s just messages like that, on the Internet, but there are things that exist afterwards, in people’s real lives psychologically and even physically”, begins Eddy de Pretto in the program A l’air free, remembering having felt “a lot of fear” when filing a complaint, then attending the hearing of his cyber-stalkers.
“I did it [porter plainte] also because I have a voice, a platform that allows me to be able to express it (…) so that mentalities change around these things (…) if I can add my stone to the building against this violence, I am delighted to do so”, adds the singer, who regrets that giants like Instagram, YouTube or Twitter cannot “act things against these prejudices.”
With the conviction of eleven of the seventeen people tried for homophobic comments and death threats against him on social networks, will the Eddy de Pretto case serve as case law and pave the way for solid legislation and a stricter supervision on social networks?
Eleven Eddy de Pretto cyber-stalkers sentenced
Three to six months suspended prison sentence: the Paris Criminal Court sentenced, on Monday, December 12, eleven people in the context of the trial for aggravated online harassment against the singer Eddy de Pretto. Six other people were released by the same body, reports AFP. On his social networks, the interpreter of Fête de trop welcomed the decision of justice.
“Today, it is a firm decision that French justice has rendered. For my personal prejudice on the one hand but also against cyber-harassment, and all forms of discrimination on the RS. We still have a lot a long way to go but we are on the right track”, writes the 29-year-old artist. Last October, the Paris prosecutor’s office had requested sentences for the seventeen people tried for aggravated online harassment against the singer Eddy de Pretto, going up to six months in prison suspended.
n June 2021, his concert in the Parisian church of Saint-Eustache had triggered a wave of hatred. After his performance, the artist shared his cover of his song on Instagram. What’s the point, which contains the word “sodomite” and evokes the conciliation between religion and homosexuality. This had earned him an outpouring of hatred from thousands of Internet users.
Today it is a firm decision that rendered justice Br. For my personal prejudice on the one hand but also against cyber-harassment, and all forms of discrimination on the RS. We still have a long way to go but we are on the right track
— Eddy de Pretto (@eddydepretto) December 12, 2022
Who were the defendants in the Eddy de Pretto trial?
The artist declared during his trial to have received more than 3,000 malicious messages, homophobic insults and death threats. The defendants are tried for counts of online harassment, with total incapacity for work (ITT) for more than eight days, and online harassment with ITT for more than eight days, committed because of the sexual orientation of the victim. Arrested in the four corners of France, the 17 defendants, men, fervent Catholics and from beautiful neighborhoods, are between 19 and 26 years old.
Simon, for example, a 21-year-old public law student, posted on Instagram, in reaction to the video of Eddy de Pretto singing in a church: “lack of respect for the house of god is head cutting” and “We will be there on each date to remind you that the army of God does not leave this kind of blasphemy unpunished”, reports Charlotte Piret, journalist at France Inter present at the hearing. Aristide, 20, must explain his comment “How do you want us to respect you if you don’t respect others yourself? We are far too nice, attacked from everywhere, I think he is great time to defend ourselves.”
Eddy de Pretto’s lawyer: “How did Eddy de Pretto’s words shock you?”
Simon: “For me it is shocking because it has a sexual character and it’s not the kind of subject we talk about in a church. We don’t talk about a sexual act in a church.”
— Charlotte Piret (@ChPiret) October 4, 2022
Eddy de Pretto, the concert and hatred
In June 2021, the singer Eddy de Pretto was invited by the parish priest of Saint-Eustache, in Paris, to sing there. “I received this invitation to play in a church, I found it relevant that they could invite me, me, a committed and homosexual singer in France. I was delighted that they could hear me on this question. : how are homosexuals represented in the Church?”, declared the artist on the first day of the trial, Monday, October 3, 2022.
Eddy de Pretto also assured that he “fully assumed” having interpreted his songs, carrying messages of tolerance within a church. “My desire was to ask questions as an artist on crucial and major themes, I did not think it could have such harmful returns”, assured the interpreter of Freaks at the helm, reports AFP. In the Saint-Eustache church, he had interpreted the song What’s the pointwhich deals with the reconciliation between homosexuality and religion.
“I don’t think I’m ready to obey your Bible (…) I know what you like, I don’t think I’ve read the right books (…) But you’ll tell me no, it’s too much, you’re not healthy enough (…) To come into your ranks, you have to have done almost nothing”, sings for example Eddy de Pretto in this piece, taken from his latest album To all the bastards. A message which will have earned him a wave of hate comments on Instagram which, according to him, caused psychological consequences: Eddy de Pretto filed a complaint and secured the services of a bodyguard.
“I was very scared, I was always looking down from my house if someone was posted, I asked for a bodyguard for all my outings”, explains the singer, referring to “sleep disorders” and “depressive feelings.” “I couldn’t understand this violence,” added Eddy de Pretto at the helm, also reports AFP. The trial is being held in Paris until Friday. The offense of cyberbullying is a new offence: the perpetrators of cyberbullying, on an adult, risk up to two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros, according to the Penal Code.