Casablanca Prefecture Cancels Booba’s Concert Due to ‘Rudeness’

Rabat – The Casablanca-Anfa prefecture has announced its decision to cancel the much-anticipated concert of French rapper Booba, citing the rapper’s offensive lyrics and videos about Moroccan women.

While the much-awaited concert was scheduled to take place on June 21 at Casablanca’s Mohammed V Sports Complex, the prefecture’s cancellation order comes in the wake of a strong controversy over Booba’s “rude” conduct towards Moroccan women. The French rapper recently released two songs with offensive language to describe Morocco’s women.

A week after organizers of the concert sent on March 21 local authorities a request to hold the event, they received a letter from the Casablanca prefecture informing them of their request being denied, converging reports have indicated.

Echoing the prefecture’s decision, many commenters signaled their disapproval of a Booba concert on Moroccan soil. “You are not welcome in Morocco,” one commenter said. Another netizen stressed his rejection of the Booba concert, describing the star French rapper as “a hypocrite who does not respect Moroccan women.”

These highly critical comments were made following Booba’s “rude” conduct towards Moroccan women by releasing two songs with offensive language to describe Moroccan women.

Meanwhile, President of the Club of Moroccan Lawyers Mourad Elajouti announced in a tweet that the club will file a complaint against the French rapper for his rude conduct toward Moroccan women, notably his two songs where Moroccan women are negatively depicted.

The lawyer added that, under Moroccan law, the rapper could be banned from ever entering the country. “The comments made in several of his songs represent an offense to the feelings and dignity of North African women in general,” he argued.

Amid the controversy, the concert’s organizers appear to be hopeful that they can still negotiate their way out of the current mood of cancellation.

The concert’s organizers, who recently appeared in a video with Booba to announce that the concert is almost sold out, told the Moroccan news website H24info in a recent interview that “discussions are still in progress” to hold the event in Casablanca.