Freeze Corleone, real name Issa Lorenzo Diakhaté, is a notable figure in French rap. Already previously banned by the prefecture, it was for the Zénith de Paris on November 24 and 25, its concerts were finally authorized by the courts.
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The concert by rapper Freeze Corleone scheduled for Friday, December 1 at the Zénith de Nantes, in the neighboring town of Saint-Herblain, was banned by the prefect of Loire-Atlantique for accusations of anti-Semitism.
“The musical productions of this artist are known for their anti-Semitic and hateful references towards the Jewish community”, affirms the prefecture in a press release. The concert scheduled for December 1 at the Zénith in Nantes takes place in a context “strong tensions towards the Jewish community” since the start of the war between Hamas and Israel, and “also accentuating the excesses of small ultra-right groups”, depending on the prefecture. According to the daily West Francethe rapper’s production must apply for summary proceedings (emergency) to the administrative court of Nantes.
The court overturned the ban on his Parisian concerts
On November 24, the Paris administrative court overturned the police headquarters’ ban on two Freeze Corleone concerts, considering that it was “a serious and manifestly illegal attack on freedom of expression and assembly”. The administrative court also objected that “texts containing anti-Semitic passages were not included in the concert program” in question. In March, the Council of State had already rejected the appeal from the city of Rennes which wanted to ban the 31-year-old rapper from performing.
In its decree, the Loire-Atlantique prefecture states in this regard “while the rapper had undertaken not to perform titles containing anti-Semitic remarks (…) during his concert in Rennes, he performed titles containing anti-Semitic remarks and marked with admiration for the person of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich”.
A prominent figure in French rap, Freeze Corleone, whose real name is Issa Lorenzo Diakhaté, was released in September 2020 by his label Universal Music, which denounced “unacceptable racist remarks”. His clips have several million views on YouTube.
