Dylan Thiry, influencer or "white savior"?

The former reality TV star, who has made several humanitarian trips to the continent in recent years, has been at the center of a controversy since rapper Booba accused him of wanting to kidnap a child in Madagascar.

Immaculate white sneakers, good looks and a big smile. Dylan Thiry, Luxembourg influencer with 1.6 million subscribers on Instagram, nevertheless wets the jersey. In 2021, we see him, under a bright sun, carrying food in a Senegalese village surrounded by many children.

Thiry, just under 30, often shows himself surrounded by smiling kids in the videos that document his humanitarian trips, in particular those made on the continent, in Morocco, Senegal or Madagascar.

"I take a big ticket and it saves a child"

But for the past few days, the handsome, friendly-looking kid who has set up his own charity, For our children, has been the subject of a lively controversy on social networks. In question: the publication, on April 25, by Booba, a famous French rapper of Senegalese origin in open war against influencers, of a voice message whose author would be Dylan Thiry.

We hear a mind-blowing exchange, where a man offers to take a child out of Madagascar: “She had written to me to find out if I had a contact to adopt. I can get her to adopt. I had thought of asking them for 100,000 euros, minimum, it's really the minimum. I take a big bill […] and two saves a child. So those are the two positives. “And to specify the approach:” I will take the passport of any friend who has a black girl. And with this passport, it's as if I had come to Madagascar with her. And I am going back to Europe with her. »

Illegal adoptions

Since the 2000s, Madagascar has experienced several scandals related to child trafficking and illegal adoptions. In 2022, faced with the multiplication of abuses, France issued an order to temporarily suspend the procedures for the international adoption of children residing in Madagascar and withdrew its authorization from an organization operating on the Big Island.

After the disclosure of these voice messages by Booba, the Collective of French adoptees in Mali, spearheading the fight against illegal adoptions, quickly expressed its indignation. “These words we hear are horrible. When we heard that, our blood boiled. This is what dozens of people on the African continent have experienced, in particular members of our association”, breathes Marie Marre, a member of this collective.

At the end of April, Stéphane Vojetta, a French deputy, seized the justice of his country about this affair. For his part, Dylan Thiry does not really deny that it is his voice that we hear in the vocals broadcast by Booba. In 2022, the influencer traveled twice to Madagascar. During his humanitarian trips, he puts money pots online. The sums collected, significant, sometimes reach more than 100,000 euros.

Embezzlement

His detractors now accuse him of not spending all these funds for humanitarian purposes alone. Several months ago, "Sandra", the former vice-president of the association Pour nos enfants moved away from him and filed a complaint against X in France for "embezzlement" and "breach of trust". . "There is no transparency on the expenses of the pots, it's total vagueness", explains a member of the association Aid to victims of influencers (AVI), who no longer lets go of Dylan Thiry. “Humanitarian work must comply with basic rules. All serious associations comply with it, ”he continues.

In addition to Madagascar, the influencer has posed for his white sneakers twice in Senegal. His first trip, in 2020, quickly took an incredible turn. During his visit to Dakar, he organizes a meeting with his fans… and ends up being filmed at the heart of a political demonstration by the Guinean diaspora.

In 2021, he goes a second time to the country of Teranga. A trip during which he joined a small French humanitarian structure which has a well project in the village of Bondji Waly, in the region of Matam, in the east of the country. Thiry proposes to speed up the affair. “There was a whole mess with the authorizations needed to dig the well. The mayor of the village intervened and things would have degenerated,” explains a member of the AVI collective. After sharply criticizing the city councilor on his social networks, Thiry ends up leaving the village.

According to a young man from Dakar who accompanied Thiry to Bondji Waly, “disasters followed on the spot”. “Dylan wanted at all costs to finish the well himself when we were calling on professional crews. Of course, people need help. But if I go to France, dig a well without asking anyone and fall out with the mayor of the village, what will happen? You have to respect the people there and the authorities of the country where you are. This is unprofessional. This witness insists on remaining anonymous. “On the internet, Dylan's defenders and detractors are super violent. Everyone insults each other. I don't want to be associated with him anymore, ”he breathes.

Egotic videos

After his troubles in Senegal, the French influencer goes to Mali. In the streets of Bamako, he meets a Malian Internet user with whom he had exchanged insults. Result ? A filmed fight. “I hit him because he insulted my mom,” explained the young man on social networks.

These cascading adventures do not fit well with the charitable discourse of this convert to Islam, who willingly appeals to donations from the Muslim community and displays a faith pegged to the body. Dylan Thiry, the perfect incarnation of white savior? This Anglo-Saxon concept designates Western people who present themselves as flying to the rescue of peoples of the South, reducing them to the role of passive recipients of their benevolence. Passion for clichés in the company of children presented as needy, a mania for showing themselves in their best light under the guise of solidarity… So many recurring practices with Thiry, whose alternately empathetic and egotistical videos often end in ridicule.

Thiry, who had built up a small popularity among young people in France, West Africa and the Muslim community, finally had an influence that no one expected: to rekindle the debate on the limits of charity and of the humanitarian. Contacted about his various trips and the comments attributed to him, he did not respond to requests from Jeune Afrique .

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