Patrick Bruel, an issue of survival
Implicitly, these various moral dilemmas reflect an economic reality that is often fragile for these small to medium-sized festivals. Each summer, they rely on the presence of recognized artists like Patrick Bruel to energize their cultural offerings while allowing the public to enjoy stars who rarely perform outside of large venues for the rest of the year. Last-minute deprogramming of an artist of this caliber could therefore spell financial collapse for those who depend heavily on these artists to continue to exist at the local level.
For the Son by Toulon Festival, where Patrick Bruel is scheduled to perform on July 22, its director Robert Albergucci told HuffPost that there are no plans for cancellation either. “There would obviously be a financial impact if we decide to cancel his participation, especially since the capacity is nearly full for this date. We would have to reimburse his artist fee, and besides that, Patrick Bruel could sue us. He would be well within his rights,” he admitted. He added that if Patrick Bruel were indicted, he could even withdraw himself. “If he is indicted, he can cancel. There are cancellation clauses and insurance for artists,” he said.
It remains to be seen if an indictment would fall within the scope of these cancellation clauses, but on this point, the director was unable to provide further information. He is mainly focused on his festival’s organization. “We will probably have to think about strengthening security in case of protests during his performance,” he hinted, referring to activist actions seen in the past to denounce shows featuring Gérard Depardieu or Ary Abittan when they were faced with similar accusations to Patrick Bruel.
What is certain is that the prospect of concrete legal action against the singer is causing a lot of anxiety at the local level, as evidenced by this recent disclosure from Robert Albergucci: “The mayor of Toulon talks to me about it every day. But for now, we can’t do anything other than wait.”
