French rapper fined for TV assault on pet monkey
Date: 31-May-02
Country: FRANCE
Starr slapped the caged Barbary ape several times during a program recorded at his home in March by the M6 commercial channel, provoking a flood of complaints from viewers that alerted Bardot and other animal rights groups.
The court in the Paris suburb of Bobigny found Starr, whose real name is Didier Morville, guilty of maltreating an animal and illegally possessing a protected species.
Barbary apes are found in bands in Algeria, Morocco and on the Rock of Gibraltar.
Starr has a number of convictions for violence, including assaults on an air hostess and on his partner.