Rapper Gims Denied French Citizenship Over Controversial Islamic Remarks

In France, the Minister of the Interior has rejected the request made by rapper Gims to obtain French nationality. He indicated on Tuesday on France Inter that it was refused "in general to the proponents of rigorous Islam". Yet the artist has lived in France for many years and has built his entire life there.

"The Interior services will obviously re-examine his request," the Interior Minister continued on France Inter. "But not wishing a happy new year because it would not be in line with what the friends, the buddies or the brothers of such and such a sacred character do, is not a good proof of assimilation to French society," he stressed.

However, the rapper apologized, regretting his remarks. "This video, I totally regret it [...] I didn’t want to hurt people. Faith, that’s a private matter," he said. Gims arrived in France with his parents fleeing the dictatorial regime of the late Mobutu Sese Seko. He was only two years old.

Today he feels French and presents himself at his concerts as a French artist. He regrets that there has not been an official recognition of this nationality since then. "I’m missing the ’official paper’. But that doesn’t just depend on me. Apparently, the refusal is linked to an offense I would have committed as a minor. But my criminal record is clean," the rapper details.

His first naturalization application filed in 2013 was rejected in 2017 for "failure to pay fines for traffic offenses and his inability to establish the center of his material interests in France." The singer resides a good part of the year in Marrakech, Morocco. But despite his appeals, he remains a Congolese artist awaiting to obtain French nationality.