Anger over plan to name Métro station after ‘misogynist’ Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg, who had a relationship with Jane Birkin in the 1960s, was often a provocative figure. Photograph: Reg Lancaster/Getty Images

He was a poet-provocateur whose songs transformed French music and whose often outrageous behaviour on TV was shrugged off with a smile.

But plans to name a new Métro station east of Paris after the singer Serge Gainsbourg have sparked a row, with campaigners saying he was a misogynist whose songs glorified child abuse and should not be celebrated.