Singer Slimane, targeted by complaints of assault and sexual harassment, was questioned by the police on January 20. He has since posted a video for which he deleted the comments on Instagram.
The singer Slimane is the target of two complaints for facts presented as similar. The first complainant, one of his former technicians, accused the artist used to singing a duet with the performer Vitaa of having sent him messages and videos of a pornographic nature in October 2024.
A month later, it was the turn of another technician – with whom he worked on his “Cupid Tour” – to file a complaint. He accuses the star of having blocked him against a wall to offer him a sexual relationship, before sending him against his will several messages and videos, some of which were pornographic.
The facts would have taken place in December 2023 after Slimane’s concert at the Zenith of Saint-Etienne, said the plaintiff’s lawyer, Anne-Sophie Charrieras, confirming information from the newspaper The Parisian. In the process, a preliminary investigation was opened in November in Saint-Étienne for “sexual harassment aggravated by the use of a digital or electronic medium”, declared prosecutor David Charmatz.
Since then, the investigation has continued. The singer is still on tour for his “Cupid tour”, after winning, on November 2, the trophy for French-speaking male artist for the NRJ Music Awards 2024. “He has a particular taste, that one,” declared , in tears, the singer receiving this award for the second year in a row.
Slimane was discovered by the general public after winning the show “The Voice” broadcast on TF1 in 2016. Ranked at the top of the album sales ranking in 2020, his duet with singer Vitaa on their opus entitled “Versus” is the project that made him known. Their title “It’s going to come” allowed them to win a Victoire de la Musique that year, in the original song category.
“A form of trivialization”
On Monday January 20, the 35-year-old artist was interviewed in police custody as part of the preliminary investigation, said the city’s prosecutor’s office, as the media reported this Sunday January 26. That day, when the information about his custody was revealed, he posted a video on his Instagram account. This is a part of his “Cupid tour” in London. At the heart of a stripped-down setting, he began a revival of the hymn to love by Edith Piaf. A way of sending a message: he does not comment on the accusations or his custody, but makes it clear that he is dedicated to his activity on stage.
Remaining silent since the start of the affair, the singer only reacted after the filing of the first complaint against him. He then contested any infringement, citing exchanges agreed with the first technician. However, regarding the second complainant, who denounced a sexual assault, he did not speak out.
According to a Mediapart surveyseveral close to Slimane would have been “active for months to prevent the information from spreading and calling into question projects with France Télévisions and TF1”. Before being revealed by the press, this affair had in fact “circulated for a long time in the small music world, arousing the concern of the artist” representing France at Eurovision, indicates the newspaper. However, even after filing the complaint, the singer’s career is far from having stopped, as the publication of this video implies. He was also able to count on the support of his friend Vitaa with whom he performed during the singer’s concert at the Accor Arena in Paris last December, underlines BFMTV.
“We feel, in the reactions to the first complaint filed, a form of trivialization or relativization of this type of behavior which is quite detestable. My client felt extremely uncomfortable with this situation,” laments Anne -Sophie Charrieras, lawyer for the plaintiffs, with Mediapart. A little earlier, the latter had already explained themselves to investigators from the Saint-Étienne judicial police. All that was missing was the version of the last protagonist to continue the investigation. After the hearing of his clients by the police, Mr. Charrieras immediately indicated that they “do not wish to be publicized” and “consider themselves whistleblowers so that these facts stop on the part of Slimane”.