The French artist followed by more than ten million subscribers on social networks declared that his “management” had been contacted by the Elysée services to ask him to delete a message concerning Palestine. The Palace disputes this version.
Published on 21/11/2024 15:47
Reading time: 3min
“There was no request to remove any posts”. This is the laconic response given by the Elysée, contacted by franceinfo, after the accusation made by the artist DJ Snake on Tuesday November 19, in Nastalk, a show broadcast on Twitch. If the interview with the star DJ lasts more than two and a half hours, it is a very specific sequence which has gone viral. Asked about his positions regarding Palestine, DJ Snake ends up explaining: “I'm just a DJ, normally it's not my job to go tweet President Macron and find myself in trouble and the Elysée calls my management saying 'Yeah, is that?' Can he delete the tweet? Can we meet?' But I don't want to meet anyone. Just put an end to it.”
Did the Élysée contact the DJ's teams to ask them to delete a message of support for Palestine? If the palace denies having made this request, it does not deny having entered into contact with the artist. For their part, many Internet users were outraged, some denouncing “a serious attack on freedom of expression”. Elected officials have also seized on the controversy such as the LFI deputy for Essonne, Antoine Léaument, who denounces on “scandal”.
Contacted by franceinfo, the DJ's teams have not yet reacted. The artist has published several messages on his social networks since the start of the Israeli offensive in Gaza. On October 16, 2023, he called in particular https://twitter.com/djsnake/status/1713855925952430135 has “stop the genocide in Gaza”. On May 27, 2024 he also commented on a message from Emmanuel Macron on X, asking: “How many civilians and children died in the genocide?”
At the beginning of June, DJ Snake was also one of the more than 230 artists and influencers who signed a column in the newspaper Liberation to call on the President of the Republic to officially recognize the State of Palestine. Tuesday on Twitch, he also explained a little more the reasons for his positions regarding the situation in Gaza: “It's such a catastrophe. Here we're talking about Humanity in fact, it's not even a question of Palestinians or others, it's just unacceptable what's happening, it's been a year since this happened. hard, and in fact it's a collective punishment I don't know if we realize how crazy it is. There are people who are locked up and we've been bombarding them for a year. silent.”
