French prosecutors have opened an investigation into death threats made against the organisers of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. On Saturday artistic director Thomas Jolly, ceremonies director Thierry Reboul and Alexandre Billard of events agency Ubi Bene filed a complaint for death threats.
Last month, French DJ Barbara Butch, who performed in the opening ceremony’s drag queen sequence, complained about receiving abuse online. That sequence sparked controversy as some religious officials and conservative politicians in France and abroad saw an offensive reference to The Last Supper.
Mr Jolly has said that he was not inspired by the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting showing Jesus Christ and his apostles. Instead, he said the sequence, titled Festivity, was inspired by Greek mythology and intended to be a celebration of diversity, adding his intention was not to “be subversive, nor to mock or to shock”.
French prosecutors opened the investigation after Mr Jolly, who is openly gay, complained of death threats and cyberbullying. Some emails received by Mr Jolly and the head of a production company quoted a verse from the Quran, stating that “Allah’s punishment will befall the organisers in Saint-Denis” (one of the Olympic sites), Le Parisien newspaper reports.
Prosecutors are also investigating insults directed at drag queen Nicky Doll, who also featured in the controversial scene. DJ Barbara Butch told France Inter radio on Sunday that she had received messages “inviting me to burn in hell in every language and swastikas”.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “outraged” by the cyberbullying directed at Jolly, adding that “nothing justifies threatening an artist”. “The French were very proud of this ceremony,” he said. “France showed appropriate boldness with artistic freedom.”
BBC
