Bob Dylan is in a bit of legal trouble in France based around comments he made in the French edition of Rolling Stone. The singer is being charged with racism after comments he made comparing Croats to Nazis and slaveholders.

The lawsuit stems from a response Dylan gave to a question about how far America has progressed since the end of slavery and the Civil War. Dylan is reported to have said, “Blacks know that some whites didn’t want to give up slavery – that if they had their way, they would still be under the yoke, and they can’t pretend they don’t know that. If you got a slave master or Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that. That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood.”

The Council of Croats took offense to the Dylan’s statement, and they have filed charges under France’s laws banning hate speech in the public sphere. In a statement, Council of Croats secretary general Vlatko Maric said that Dylan’s remarks “an incitement of racial hatred” and added, “you cannot compare Croatian Criminals to all Croats.”

Representatives for Bob Dylan have yet to comment on the incident.