French Rapper May Face Jail Time For Song About Hanging White People
Still from the video via New York Times
Still from the video via New York Times
A black French rapper may face charges under the country's hate speech regulations for a song that talks about hanging "the whites."
Nick Conrad released a video for his song called "PLB," which is a French acronym for "hang the whites." On Wednesday, the video was removed from YouTube for its lyrical content, which includes Conrad rapping about entering a school and murdering white children. There were also some controversial scenes in the video, including one where Conrad and another black man attack a white man on the sidewalk and crush his skull.
"I go to nurseries and kill white babies," Conrad raps. "Catch them quickly and hang their parents, tear them up to entertain black kids of all ages big and small. Whip them hard — frankly, it stinks of death as blood is gushing."
The rapper may now face prosecution for the video according to The Washington Post. A Paris prosecutor told the news outlet that "a formal investigation has been launched, specifically with regard to whether Conrad's video constitutes an incitement to a crime."
"I condemn without reservation these abject remarks and ignominious attacks," Gerard Collomb, France's Interior Minister, wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.
Conrad has defended the video and its content, telling radio network RTL that the song isn't a "call to hate" but "a fiction that shows things that, from beginning to end, really happened to black people."
"All the elements that are cited in the piece, one by one, really touched and marked black people in the flesh," Conrad said.
The Post also notes that others are worried that the focus on hate-speech and "anti-white" racism "distracts from the very real racism against blacks and immigrants French society tries to ignore," and that some may try to equate anti-white and anti-black racism.
In a separate story from The New York Times, Conrad could face up to five years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros (about $52,000) if convicted.
Source: The Washington Post
