Joëlle Dambo, an artisan crepe maker in the village of Gomené in Brittany’s Côtes-d’Armor region, announced Thursday that she has filed two new legal complaints following more than a year of racist insults and online harassment, according to her lawyer.
Speaking at a press conference in Paris, attorney Vincent Brenghart said the complaints, lodged on October 13, target “public online harassment, incitement to hatred and insults based on ethnic origin.” He described what his client has endured as “a continuum of insults” and “a torrent of hate.”
Mayor Accused of Denouncing Her Falsely
The second complaint, for “malicious denunciation,” names Mickaël Leveau, the mayor of the small Breton commune. Dambo accuses the town hall and local elected officials of having “looked away and stayed silent” in the face of harassment that has persisted for months.
Brenghart criticized what he called “a form of inertia on the part of the institutions.” A first complaint filed on July 9 led to the opening of an investigation, but the defense has received “absolutely no information” about it since, he said. Such inaction, the lawyer argued, allows “a state of impunity” to take hold in the face of racism.
Abuse Intensified After Televised Win
Dambo, who has run her creperie for several years and whose establishment was awarded the “Galette d’Or 2025,” has been the target of racial slurs since May 2025. The abuse intensified after she won a crepe competition broadcast on France 3 in June.
“For months, my daily life has no longer been that of an artisan, but that of a woman targeted because of the color of her skin,” she said Thursday, describing herself as “fully French” and refusing to let “hatred decree who has the right to be Breton.”
The complainant also says she faces racism inside her restaurant, including “monkey cries.” Her lawyer suggested some of the comments, both online and in the creperie, “target the white man’s monopoly on the galette trade,” as if one needed “the right skin color” to make them.
Ongoing Feud With Local Mayor
The dispute has also pitted the crepe maker against the mayor of the commune of just over 500 residents for months. In July, Leveau himself filed a complaint against Dambo, who had accused him on social media of failing to support her. That complaint was subsequently dismissed.
Leveau has said he “sent a message of support” to the restaurateur while condemning “all remarks that can be made against difference.”
