The controversy continues to swell. This Wednesday, December 4, 2024, Vitaa performs at the Accor Arena. And for this show, the singer is supposed to be joined by her lifelong friend, Slimane. Yes, but in the meantime, the singer has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by two of his technicians.
So for the Vitaa teams, working with the artist is out of the question. The latter thus asserted their right of withdrawal. “We signed for Vitaa, not for Slimane, sums up one of them, in conflict with the production of the tour. Our job is to put an artist on stage on a pedestal and we don't want to put a guy on a pedestal who is the target of two complaints for sexual assault and sexual harassment, what's more, it is submitted by colleagues, sometimes friends. Of course, Slimane benefits from the presumption of innocence, but we know the artist and the atmosphere on his tours. Out of the question to work for him,” told some of the Vitaa technicians to our colleagues at Parisian.
This crisis meeting that turned sour
Slimane was already scheduled to perform in Dijon. If officially, it was canceled for logistical problems, Vitaa technicians shared their anger. “We met and concluded that we were all opposed to the coming of Slimane,” confides a witness.
“A crisis meeting is immediately called by production. On November 29, before the concert at the Arkéa Arena, in Bordeaux, the forty technicians found themselves in the catering (the canteen) facing Vitaa, her husband Hicham Bendaoud, co-founder of Indifférence Prod, and Nicolas Coullier, director of Play Two Live, turner of Vitaa and Slimane”,
write our colleagues.
Slimane not welcome for Vitaa technicians
During this meeting, the tone quickly rises between the technicians and those around Vitaa: “At 11 p.m., after the show was taken down, Hicham (Vitaa’s husband, editor’s note.) announced to us that
'Slimane will come to Paris, that's how it is' and at the end of the tense discussion, seeing that we do not change our position, he threatens to cancel the tour”.
Thus, according to these technicians, the threats would be serious regarding their future in the profession: “In principle, we should be able to exercise our right of withdrawal, but we are being threatened and we are worried about the repercussions, says a technician indignantly. We all have different statuses and professions, some are self-employed and work a lot with Play Two Live. They are afraid of losing their contracts. Others are part of the show and fear being blacklisted, because this group (which also includes a label) is very powerful”.
