Emmanuel Macron arrived in Morocco on Monday for a three day State visit, during which time he will discuss trade and security. Among his entourage is Yassine Belattar, a light entertainer with a controversial past.
In September last year, the 42-year-old Franco-Moroccan was found guilty by a Paris court of making death threats against the screenwriter and director Kader Aoun. Belattar was given a four-month suspended sentence and he was also ordered to pay damages to an actor. The charges arose from the takeover of a Paris theatre in 2018.
Macron is a poor judge of character. Perhaps he is too arrogant to care
It was also in 2018 that Belattar was appointed by Macron to a presidential committee on the inner cities; he wanted the comedian’s input about how best to engage with the banlieues. To that end, Macron sounded out Belattar last November shortly before a large rally in Paris against anti-Semitism.
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