“I regret”: the mea culpa of Gims after his remarks on the New Year


Shis comments sparked controversy. On the occasion of New Year’s Eve, the rapper Gims had pushed a surprising rant on Instagram by asking his fans not to wish him their end of the year wishes. ” It’s the muslims, most, who send me this. Do the companions [du prophète] celebrated the New Year? Christmas, we respect, but these are not our holidays”, had launched the 35-year-old artist in a series of “stories”, provoking strong reactions from Internet users and the political class.

In reaction to the controversy, Gims explained himself in the columns of the JDD published this Sunday, January 23. “This video, I totally regret it. It was a UFO, I don’t usually communicate like that. I didn’t want to hurt people,” said the interpreter of “Bella”, a convert to Islam, while specifying that faith was “intimate”. The member of the Sexion d’Assault group says he is “really sorry” and admits having done “the idiot”. According to him, the outcry after his video would “in no way” have changed his relationship with his “animist, Buddhist, Catholic, Muslim” audience. The rapper, of Catholic origin, comes from a family of four children, all artists, of the Christian faith.

READ ALSOGims calls his Muslim “brothers” to order regarding the holidays

“I myself cannot vote! »

Nearby JDD, Gims took the opportunity to recall his fight to obtain French nationality. His first request was refused in 2017. The singer-songwriter, born Gandhi Djuna in Kinshasa in 1986, arrived in France at the age of 2. At the time, his parents fled Zaire from President Mobutu Sese Seko. “I will reapply for nationality. I am a very patient person, not the type to give up,” he said, saying that not being born French was “a regret”.

According to a former Minister of the Interior who spoke, echoed by The Parisian, his request would have been refused because Gims, domiciled in Marrakech, would not have paid fines for traffic offenses and would not have repatriated in France “his material interests”. The rapper would have relaunched his request in 2018, raising the subject with the wife of the president, Brigitte Macron, without more success. He was also interviewed by theSunday newspaper on his closeness to the right-wing presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse. “I do not support Valérie Pécresse. (…) I support her approach, as president of the Île-de-France region, for young talents. (…) People think that I am calling for a vote, when I do not have French nationality”, reacted the main person concerned. And to add: “Myself, I cannot vote! »


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