Tuesday December 3, 2024, Le Parisien provided new elements in the context of the Slimane affair. While the singer accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault should go on stage at the Accor Arena with Vitaa, the singer's technicians would be shocked by this decision.
The affair is growing… Tuesday October 29, 2024, Le Parisien revealed that a former technician from Slimane's tour had filed a complaint against the singer for sexual harassment. Monday November 18, 2024, the magazine revealed that a second complaint had been filed against the singer. The facts denounced by a second employee of his concerts, would also have taken place on the night of December 17 to 18, 2023. In the turmoil, the artist can always count on the support of his friend Vitaa, who walked the red carpet of the NRJ Music Awards at his side.
Wednesday December 4, 2024, Slimane will take the stage alongside the singer. According to information from Le Parisien, the atmosphere behind the scenes would be
“heavy, even deleterious”. And for good reason, technicians have been opposing Slimane's arrival as a guest at the Accor Arena for two weeks and would like to assert their right of withdrawal. Disputing with the tour production, one said: “We signed for Vitaa, not for Slimane. 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”.
Slimane, persona non grata
It was on November 17, 2024 that the technicians first learned via internal message that Slimane was going to be invited on stage the next day, tothem duet songs taken from the album Versus. The latter would then have gone to the production office before announcing that they would not work if the singer was present at the Zénith in Dijon. Ultimately, the singer did not perform on stage, officially for logistical problems.
While Slimane is expected to take the stage on Wednesday December 4, 2024 alongside his long-time friend, the conflict would have resumed. “We got together and concluded that we were all opposed to the arrival of Slimane“said a witness before a crisis meeting was called immediately. The turner would have indicated that he was not minimizing the facts, but that everything should not be mixed up and penalized Vitaa.
Vitaa technicians, victims of pressure?
Annoyed, a technician declared: “Charlotte (Vitaa’s real first name) makes us feel guilty. She doesn’t understand that we are doing this to her when she has nothing to do with it. She sees it as a betrayal. She says that Slimane is like her brother and that like in any familywe remain united even if we don't condone all the bullshit. The most scathing is Hicham (the singer's husband) who asks us to defend Slimane: 'Who has never sent a photo of their dick?'. We all raised our hands.”.
Last Sunday, a new crisis meeting took place.
“At 11 p.m., after the show had been dismantled, Hicham 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 did not change our position, he threatened to cancel the tour”said a technician. For his part, Marc Daniel, the production director of Play Two, a subsidiary of the TF1 group, would have called the technicians and subcontracting companies to put them “a lot of pressure” and the “threaten legal action” if they were not at their post.
Vitaa technicians would receive threats
For Le Parisien, a technician deplored: “In principle, we should be able to exercise our right of withdrawal, but we are being threatened and we are worried about the repercussions. 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 intermittent from the show and fear being blacklisted, because this group is very powerful”.
Another added: “We ended up agreeing to put on the show in Bercy, so as not to penalize the most vulnerable among us, but we feel guilty towards our friends who are victims of Slimane, with whom we stand in solidarity“. Angry, an experienced technician also said:
“This is why we decided to publicize our conflict, we who are usually extremely discreet. This is the first time in my career that I have experienced this. It's hard. We also have the impression to suffer harassment”.
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