A DJ and rap performance scheduled for next week on the top of a French basilica has been cancelled due to “serious threats of violence,” organisers said on Friday.
It is the third episode in recent weeks of conservative opposition against cultural events held in previous or current religious structures in France.
The concert was scheduled for April 27th atop Notre-Dame de Fourviere, a 19th-century church overlooking Lyon’s southern suburbs, with video footage to be shown in a nearby public area.
The event, however, was cancelled due to “serious threats of violence” and “demands of a minority of individuals” by the Quai de Saone collective, which organised it.
“It’s so sad,” said a representative for the organisation, which collaborated with a priest to complete the performance plans.
“We spent so much time meditating from the very beginning for the project to be perfect and in sync with religion… and now threats of violence have gone and destroyed it all,” he explained.
“We thought the basilica would be the best place to break down negative stereotypes about electronic music.”
The performers would primarily be Lyon-based artists, like Catholic rapper GAB, who “clearly do not say anything rude or blasphemous in their songs,” he noted.
The foundation that manages the building announced on Thursday that the event had been cancelled due to “serious disagreements.”
On Thursday, Les Remparts, a small far-right group, applauded the cancellation of the so-called “woke” concert “even before our actions on the ground” on Twitter.
Earlier this month, LGBTQ performer Bilal Hassani was forced to cancel a concert at a converted church in the northern city of Metz after Catholic groups labelled it “profanity.
This comes after a French priest claimed he received death threats during a sold-out pole dance performance in his church, which the local media described as “sexy.
