Calls to boycott Patrick Bruel’s tour are increasing, after new complaints of rape or sexual assault against the singer

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The room was packed on the evening of Saturday May 16 for Patrick Bruel, performing in a play in Paris. The places were reserved several months ago, but Flavie Flament’s new testimony against the artist, published a few hours earlier, embarrassed some spectators. “It’s true that I would have been very hesitant to take tickets. I don’t think I would have taken them, in fact”slips a man. “If there is evidence, that would change a lot. We must still defend this cause. Women still suffer a lot of looks and obscene gestures, especially in this environment.”estimates another.

Come or give up? A large majority of the public refuses to pass any judgment in the name of the presumption of innocence. “This does not mean that I condone, but it is not up to me to judge.” comments a woman. “I like the character, I like this artist. It’s not going to discourage me”puts forward another, who admits to being also “there to support him”. “That doesn’t call anything into question for me,” she concludes.

Friday afternoon, on her Instagram account, Flavie Flament announced that she was filing a complaint against Patrick Bruel for rape. The events took place in 1991. She was 16 years old. The host says she was invited to the singer’s apartment. She was allegedly drugged and raped there. “I open my eyes. He is putting my pants back on and buttoning them up on his bed. And he says to me: ‘Okay, come on, it’s time, I’ll take you back’. I don’t understand what’s happening to me. I’m incapable of reacting”she wrote. A version that Patrick Bruel’s defense refutes.

And while calls for a boycott are increasing, a petition has gathered more than 15,000 signatures to cancel the artist’s tour scheduled for next month. One of his lawyers reacted in the morning. “I don’t confuse truth with noise. These demonstrations are a way of trying to put pressure on Mr. Bruel, probably also on the justice system. I hope that justice will be deaf to these demonstrations, which are only the expression of a conviction, which are not proof of anything“, estimates Me Céline Lasek.

Around thirty women testified against the singer. He is the target of at least three investigations for rape and sexual assault in France and Belgium.