At the end of a Parisian concert in 2021, the French singer had received nearly 3,000 messages of homophobic insults and death threats on social networks.
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The Paris prosecutor’s office on Friday (October 7th) requested suspended sentences of three to six months in prison against 17 people tried for aggravated online harassment against singer Eddy de Pretto. The heaviest sentence, six months suspended prison sentence, was required against ten defendants for having sent homophobic messages to the artist or absent during the hearings.
The prosecution requested a three-month suspended sentence against four defendants “having begun to reflect on the acts committed” and four months for three “present (at the hearing) without aggravation of the facts”.
Invited to give a concert on June 17, 2021 at the Saint-Eustache Church in Paris as part of a festival, Eddy de Pretto had interpreted his piece “A quoi bon”, evoking the difficulties in reconciling his homosexuality and his faith. At the end of his performance posted on Instagram, he had received nearly 3,000 messages of insults and death threats, as confirmed Monday at the hearing by his lawyer, Nicolas Verly.
“Provocation”, “spit in the face” of “the historical religion of France” , the defendants aged 20 to 26 – who said they barely knew Eddy de Pretto at the time of the events and most claim their Catholic faith – had expressed their indignation on Instagram, either in public comment under the publication of the singer or directly to his attention, in private message. The court reserved its decision on December 12.