Iconic singer/songwriter Bob Dylan has been charged in France with inciting racial hatred based on a comment he made to Rolling Stone that could be read as drawing a parallel between Croats and Nazis. The story was published in the magazine’s September 27, 2012 issue.
When asked by the reporter if he saw any parallels between the 1860s and present-day America, Dylan reportedly said this:
This country is just too fucked up about color. It’s a distraction. People at each other’s throats just because they are of a different color. It’s the height of insanity, and it will hold any nation back – or any neighborhood back. Or any anything back. Blacks know that some whites didn’t want to give up slavery – that if they had their way, they would still be under the yoke, and they can’t pretend they don’t know that. If you got a slave master or Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that. That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood.
The Council of Croats was put off by that last part — so much so that it sued under France’s laws banning hate speech or incitement to racial hatred, according to The Guardian.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, French courts have agreed to hear the case, and Dylan has asked to appear for the hearings. If he skips out, he could be fined.
We’ll keep you posted.
