Belgian football federation refuses to drop rapper for World Cup song despite complaints about his lyrics
The Belgian football federation has said it will not change its mind about choosing a rapper known for lacing his songs with obscene and misogynistic lyrics to produce its official World Cup song.
The federation said in a statement today, International Women's Day, that it did not want to be taken "hostage" by pro-women groups, who say it is unacceptable that an artist using degrading lyrics could be picked to produce what should be a unifying song for the country.
The team's sponsors, however, said they would consult on whether it is wise to keep rapper Damso as the choice to produce the song.
In its statement, the federation said the umbrella group of pro-women organisations, the Women's Council, had used the federation soon after the artist's choice was made in November to start the controversy "after cloaking itself in silence up to then".
Damso has said his songs are more complicated than the denigrating terms imply and accused the media of unduly centring on him.
"If they would use all their media powers to promote many Belgian artists instead of criticising one, Belgium would not be the same anymore," he wrote on his Twitter feed.
The World Cup song itself has yet to be released.
Sponsors of the team were less bullish than the federation, and suggested they might intervene.
"Football is the sport for unity and to choose something like this which causes such a rift in society is a major worry for us," Florence Bribosia of the Belgian construction multinational Besix said.
"We stand for values," said Peter Dercon of brewing giant AB Inbev.
He did not say what action could be taken.
Belgian state secretary for equal opportunities Zuhal Demir said it was an incomprehensible decision by the federation to stick with an artist whose lyrics she considered vile, centring on sexual scenes with men dominating women.
Many said his vulgar language in previous songs made him worthy of all the criticism.
"As a federation, how can you defend this in front of your sponsors, and especially families and women? Even men," Ms Demir wrote, before adding some of Damso's most criticised lyrics on her Facebook page.
The Women's Forum, a coalition of women's groups, has vowed that it will take further action.
In an open letter to 13 sponsors, it said it was "unacceptable" someone like Damso would become "the official standard bearer of our country. What does this say about our society? That we don't have any problems with hate speech toward half of humanity?"
If the federation fails to change its mind, the coalition said it would lodge a complaint with the Belgian equal rights office.
