The small community of Plessisville, in Centre-du-Québec, is divided because of the arrival in town next month of Éric Lapointe, less than two years after the singer pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman.
The Maple Festival did not expect such a reaction last week when it announced that the rocker was going to be the headliner of its 64th edition, on April 30. After having suffered some criticism, the festival finally decided on Wednesday that it was maintaining Éric Lapointe in its programming, contract requires, while committing to make a donation to one of the organizations in the region which defends victims of domestic violence. .
According to what can be read in the press release, the presence of the interpreter of Anything had been decided before the pandemic put the event industry on hold, and especially before the singer’s arrest at the end of 2019. “Most people are very happy. We haven’t received a lot of bad comments, but it’s a small community, so it’s important for us that the world is happy,” said in an interview with the Homework the general director of the festival, Jean-François Côté.
But for Émilie Pinette, a young woman of 22 from the region, Éric Lapointe is simply not welcome in Plessisville. “There are people who defend him saying that if it was a plumber who had been convicted, he would have started working again afterwards and no one would have said anything. But it’s not the same! To be known is a privilege. Well-known people are supposed to be models and it sends a bad message that Éric Lapointe is still on stage, ”protests the one who has expressed her dissatisfaction on social networks in the last few days.
Like nothing ever happened
The student is especially indignant that Éric Lapointe escaped relatively unscathed, given the seriousness of what he was accused of. Recall that in October 2020, he pleaded guilty and expressed remorse for events that occurred a little over a year earlier, after the party organized for his 50th birthday. Intoxicated, the star had returned in the morning with a friend and an argument then broke out with another woman who was already at her home. Éric Lapointe grabbed her by the neck and finally slammed her against the pantry.
But following an agreement between the two parties, the one to whom we owe the success Loaded like a gun received a conditional discharge, thereby escaping a criminal record. Since then, the rocker continues to roll his bump, even if he has completely disappeared from variety shows and major festivals.
And we have to admit that his business seems to be doing quite well despite everything. His show in Saguenay two weeks ago was sold out, and tickets for his concert at the Étoile Banque Nationale in Brossard, on May 7, have already found almost all takers.
In addition to the Plessisville Maple Festival, other events in the region are associated with Éric Lapointe, who remains one of the best record sellers in the history of Quebec. Among other things, he will be at the Fête des Guitares, in July, in Lac-au-Saumon, in the Matapédia valley.
He will share the stage in particular with Kevin Parent, who had been dropped by his agency in the summer of 2020 in the wake of a movement to denounce sexual misconduct on social networks.
At the time of this writing, the Guitar Festival promoter had not responded to our interview request. Same thing for Éric Lapointe’s team.