France’s far-right Front National (FN) is to sue Madonna for using a picture of its leader Marine Le Pen with a swastika on her forehead.
Marine Le Pen’s far right National Front party is suing singer Madonna for superimposing a swastika on an image of Le Pen’s face in a concert in Paris Saturday evening, as she did in Israel earlier this year.
“We cannot accept such an odious comparison.”
“We cannot accept everything. We cannot accept this insulting connection. Marine Le Pen is defending her honour, but also that of party members and supporters and the millions of Front National voters.” National Front vice-president Florian Philippot said, adding that the legal action would be filed this week.
Mr Philippot said the lawsuit would be filed this week. The video, which served as a backdrop for Madonna’s performance of the song Nobody Knows Me, had already appeared earlier in Madonna’s 30-nation MDNA world tour, sparking a warning from Ms Le Pen that she was considering legal action.
Le Pen, who inherited control of the party from her father, Jean-Marie, has tried to shed the National Front’s image as racist and anti-Semitic, especially during her recent failed bid for president.
Anti-racism group SOS Racisme expressed its support for Madonna on Sunday, commending her for her “resolutely anti-racist and feminist discourse.”
The concert in Israel was not the first time Madonna has used the swastika image, and she also has angered Catholics by showing pictures of Pope Benedict, who was pictured in her concert in Paris, along with that of U.S. Republican Sarah Palin.
Madonna is due to perform in France again on 21 August, in Nice.