The Albany Gazette - French LGBTQ icon cancels concert after conservative backlash

Bilal Hassani, who represented France at Eurovision in 2019, was due to sing in a Roman basilica turned concert venue in the northeastern city of Metz on Wednesday evening.

Conservative group Lorraine Catholique last week called for the cancellation, describing the singer's performances as "pornographic".

In comments shared by far-right-linked outlets on social media, it urged believers to hold prayers outside the church against what it described as a "profanity" during the Holy Week leading up to Easter.

Producers on Wednesday said they decided to call off the show.

"We cannot let an event that was supposed to be a moment of joy, sharing and celebration become a site of tension and malicious intent," organiser Live Nation said.

"The audience's security is our priority," it added.

Metz culture official Patrick Thil said he was "ashamed for the city" after the cancellation, calling the concert's critics "uneducated extremists".

"Saint-Pierre-Aux-Nonnains is not even a church," he said.

City mayor Francois Grosdidier on Tuesday insisted the ancient building was originally part of a Roman spa, and only a church for a short period in history, before being repurposed for secular use five centuries ago.

Hassani, 23, refuses to be ascribed solely to either gender, often sporting long hair and feminine clothes during performances, and is openly gay.

The concert cancellation comes after a French priest said Tuesday he had received death threats after a sold-out pole dance performance in his church, which the local paper called "sexy".

Daniel Boessenbacher, a priest in the eastern city of Strasbourg, said he had alerted police to the threats after receiving two anonymous letters.

(Y.Berger--BBZ)