The artist was to perform on Wednesday evening in the Saint-Eustache church as part of the “Qui va piano va sano” festival, but the priest decided to deprogram his performance because of a clip by the artist which “undermines to the symbols of the Church”.
Last minute cancellation for singer Claude. The French artist was to perform this Wednesday evening at the Saint-Eustache church in Paris as part of the festival “It’s slow here, it’s healthy“but he asserts on Instagram that his performance was rescheduled in the morning at the request of the parish.
In his post, published in story, the artist specifies that the church made its decision after viewing the clip of his song. Help me a little, considered “provocative”. In this video, Claude stages himself as a priest in a parish and recounts the torment of this character between love and his religious vocation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp7y5sb73g0
If he says he is “deeply annoyed” to have had to make this decision in consultation with the diocese, Yves Tcheris, parish priest of the Saint-Eustache church, estimates with BFMTV.com that this clip, which he has read only Tuesday, “damages the symbols of the Church”.
“I’m not used to refusing artists, but I’m responsible for a religious community of more than 2,000 people who come together around these extremely sensitive symbols for her,” he explains.
I therefore cannot endorse a video that harms them and Claude’s performance was in my opinion inseparable from this video”, specifies the priest.
He adds: “I’m not talking about blasphemy, but, like the French flag, the host, the chalice are symbols that deserve respect. I don’t know if an artist always measures very well, when he uses symbols religion, the impact it can have on those who practice it”.
Yves Tcheris specifies however that he does not question the statement around the sexuality of priests which, according to him, is a “very current question which deserves to be asked”.
“Claude has the right to sing whatever he wants”
To convince the Saint-Eustache Church to maintain his performance, Claude explains that he tried to justify to the parish the content of his clip, originally produced in tribute to the book The name of the rose by Umberto Eco, which tells the story of a monk in love with a young woman.
“I tried to discuss it with the Saint-Eustache church, they did not necessarily hear this interpretation or consider that it was sufficient to explain this clip”, declares Claude on Instagram.
“I can understand. It’s their freedom to see things like that. I’m just deeply sorry for the people who partly came to see me tonight,” continues the artist.
Interviewed by BFMTV.com Antoine Bisou, founder of the independent label Microqlimain charge of organizing the festival, assures “understanding the position” of the Saint-Eustache church but “regrets the personal interpretation of the clip” made by the parish.
“We maintain that Claude has the right to publish this clip, to sing what he wants. Besides, we tried to argue that it was not sacred objects that were used but movie props, but that was not the subject”, assures Antoine Bisou.
Church vandalized twice
According to the parish priest of the Saint-Eustache church, Yves Tcheris, this cancellation was also decided to ensure the safety of the parish: “I would like to remind you that the church was vandalized twice recently. We broke the main altar and urinated on the main altar and the parishioners were really touched,” he said.
Yves Tcheris also recalls Eddy de Pretto’s performance at the Saint-Eustache church in 2021, after which the artist received more than 3,000 insulting and threatening homophobic messages. 11 people were finally sentenced in December 2022 by the Paris Criminal Court to suspended sentences of three to six months in prison.
If at the time, the parish priest of the Saint-Eustache church had supported the singer, he assures us that in the case of Claude, the situation is totally different. “I defended Eddy de Pretto, because in his performance, there was no form of attack on the life of the church. For Claude, I take responsibility for this cancellation”.
