The concert of Bilal Hassani, ex-candidate of France for Eurovision, in an old church in Metz (Moselle) canceled. It was the producer who made the announcement himself on Wednesday, April 5. The concert had angered radical Catholics.
Bilal Hassani’s concert in an old church in Metz (Moselle) on Wednesday April 5, 2023 is cancelled.
The organization of the show had caused controversy among local Catholics and traditionalists because of the sexual orientation of the singer, a claimed flag bearer of the LGBT community.
“In view of the threats made against Bilal Hassani, we cannot allow a meeting which was to be a moment of joy, sharing and celebration, to become a place of heightened tension and malevolence”, explains Live Nation, producer of Bilal Hassani’s tour. The producer decided “with regret, sadness and spite to cancel the concert of Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains”, he explains in a press release.
The controversy started from a message on the blog of the “Catholic Lorraine” collective, on March 28, crying out for “profanation” and calling on “faithful Christians” to a collective prayer in front of the concert hall, the former Church of Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains. “One of the oldest religious buildings in France, now intended for acoustic concerts, must it suffer this outrage in the middle of Holy Week before Easter? Come back to common sense!”says the regional councilor Rassemblement national du Grand-Est, Françoise Grolet, on her Facebook account.
For its part, the collective “Lorraine catholique” considers that the performances of the singer “are nothing but pornographic”. Thus the collective had announced the organization of a “rosary of reparation”: A gathering, fifteen minutes before the start of the concert, intended to pray with a view to repairing sins was planned. For the moment we do not know if this demonstration is maintained.
In a press release, François Grosdidier the mayor of Metz specifies: “This ancient basilica in the Roman and civil sense of the term and not Christian, linked to water buildings and which saw the inhabitants of the time bathe naked, was only a church for a short time. It has been deconsecrated for more than 500 years old and has today become a performance hall much appreciated by Metz and artists of all kinds”.
In view of the threats formulated against Bilal Hassani, we cannot allow a meeting which was to be a moment of joy, sharing and celebration, to become a place of heightened tension and malevolence.
Live Nation, producer of Bilal Hassani
Bilal Hassani’s concert, now canceled, was sold out (90 seats) on ticket sales platforms.