Shakira’s success could backfire: What if Pique takes legal action?

The song includes controversial verses, both about him and his current girlfriend, Clara Chía. Can he consider these sentences as a direct attack on his person, what are the possibilities of response for Pique and his new partner, and is it a possible crime of defamation or slander? Legálitas analyzes and answers these and other questions.

Is Shakira violating Pique and Clara Chía’s right to honor or privacy? It is very likely that the singer has a large legal team advising her throughout the creation and composition of the song and its lyrics. Legálitas explains that the song makes no direct reference to any of the parties involved and does not reveal any specific fact or data related to the intimate life shared with the former FC Barcelona defender. All artists create on the basis of their personal experiences and on the basis of freedom of expression, which does not imply that it infringes any rights.

Although the public interpreted it as a clear (and never better said) allusion to his ex-partner and his current partner, it is really just a song that went viral in a matter of hours. This fact does not take away from the fact that Pique and Chía could take legal action. In this specific case, the course of a lawsuit for violation of the right to honor would be quite short, due to the above and because it is the plaintiffs themselves who must prove the damage caused.

How does this affect children’s agreement? The song is not a reason to modify the measures adopted with regard to the two children they have in common. Indeed, there is neither substantial change of circumstances, nor situation of danger or need for protection of the children.

Does the letter violate the right to honor of Piqué and Clara Chía? Following the latest reform of the Penal Code that took place through Organic Law 1/2015, minor insults have been decriminalised, except for those that take place in the family setting or minor insults to authority. For the attack on a person’s honor to constitute a criminal offence, Legálitas indicates that it must be shown that the expressions used by Shakira are seriously offensive, taking into account the concomitant circumstances and the context in which they occur.

Additionally, the artist must have acted with the intent to disparage and discredit Pique. If the purpose is none other than to launch a criticism, to denounce certain facts or even to exercise the right to freedom of expression to defend oneself, it is very likely that the court will not see the proof of a crime. .

Does the verse “he left me in debt to the tax authorities” constitute slander? Analyzing whether this expression could be defamatory in accusing Pique of allegedly committing a tax offense, this does not appear to be the intent that can be inferred from the song’s lyrics. What it shows is a critique of a conflict situation, because not all debt to the taxman is an offence. This is only the case if the fraud is greater than 120,000 euros.