Belgium’s national soccer association ended a collaboration with the rapper Damso on Friday after protests from women’s groups, politicians and corporate sponsors that his lyrics were sexist. Damso was to create the country’s official song for the World Cup, which begins in June in Russia.
National soccer teams often commission musicians to create songs for big tournaments as a way of building morale and reflecting national identity. But the choice of Damso, whose songs feature threats of violence against women and crude references to the female anatomy, has instead inflamed tensions between fighting sexism and freedom of expression.