Comedian Exits Ownership of Controversial Sevran Bar After Dispelling Anti-Women Claims

He had been a great support for Amar Salhi, the owner of Jockey-Club, before retiring. In December 2016, France-Télévision had, in a report, presented this bar as an establishment forbidden to women, permeable to the radicalization of the suburbs, reports Le Parisien. However, counter-investigations, notably that of the Bondy Blog, had proven the opposite, indicates the same source.

This affair, which made headlines, prompted the comedian Yassine Belattar, a staunch defender of the fight against Islamophobia, to buy back 36% of the shares, in order to "restore the honor" of its owner and to make the bar "a place of celebration". For his part, Amar Salhi intended "to bring in a few acquaintances of Yassine to offer small comedy shows".

In early 2019, Yassine Belattar withdrew quietly without having kept any of the promises made during the highly publicized inauguration of the bar. "It fizzled out," laments a close friend of Amar Salhi. Moreover, the bar owner is already considering entrusting the business to an entrepreneur from Sevran in order to retire.

Under fire from criticism, the comedian defends himself: "I did not take advantage of a buzz; it cost me money, a check was cashed." His moral satisfaction, he will say, is to have deflated the false reputation of the place, which was said to be forbidden to women, even to non-Muslims, whereas it is entirely false. "In short, we were able to show that it is not a rear base of Daesh," he rejoices.