Drunken Anglo-Canadian Mob Beats up One of Their Own: Kevin Parent

Québec signer Kevin Parent, the all-time best-selling artists in Québec music history after Céline Dion, was beat up by a mob of drunken tourists a couple of night ago while out on the town in Québec City.

The singer suffered a concussion and says he remembers nothing of the incident, but bystanders report the attackers were drunken English-speaking tourists.

As if the apparently xenophobic attack was not pathetic enough, Kevin Parent is himself an Anglo. The morons beat up one of their own.

« This incident made me understand the rage of the oppressed Québec francophone who is pissed on in his own city, in his capital, during his own carnival… », declared Parent in a press conference on Tuesday.

« I spent years building a bridge between French and English. I spent years going to the Junos to say that the Québécois are cool and going to the [French-language music award ceremony] l’ADISQ to say that Anglophones are not all boring and are good people… »

Essentially famous for his French-language albums, Kevin Parent’s mother tongue is English. Just like Mary Travers, a.k.a. La Bolduc, who became Québec’s first ever popstar during the Depression, Kevin Parent is a Anglo from the maritime region of Gaspésie who made records in French.

In a move that says a lot about the impressive vitality of Québec’s music scene, in 2007 Parent reportedly had to leave his record label, Tacca records–ironically run by fellow Anglo Donald K. Tarlton–and join Audiogram to finally record his first English language album.

The incident is reminiscent of another in 1997 when Québec legend Serge Fiori, frontman of Harmonium, was also allegedly attacked by four drunken English-speaking women in Montreal. The women were later acquitted.

Although Fiori and Harmonium are closely associated with the Québec nationalism of the 1970’s, he declared in a 2007 interview with Richard Martineau that he « functions a lot in English, writes in English », and even seriously considered starting over, in California, in English, under another name when fame back home became to much to bear.

Anglo on Anglo xenophobic violence… The English-canadian press is reportedly brainstorming ways to blame the attacks on the separatists…