The organizers of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games filed a complaint on Saturday, August 3, for death threats. An investigation has been opened.
More than a week after the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the controversy has turned ugly. Following a complaint of death threats filed by the organizers of the ceremony, an investigation has been opened, according to information from the ParisianThe investigation was entrusted to the Brigade for the Repression of Crimes against the Person. The complaint was filed on Saturday, August 3 by Alexandre Billard, deputy general director of the event agency Ubi Bene, which produced the ceremony, as well as by the artistic director Thomas Jolly and the executive director of ceremonies Thierry Reboul.
Further investigations were opened this week, following complaints filed by the ceremony’s artistic director Thomas Jolly, the famous drag queen Nicky Doll and the DJ and feminist activist Barbara Butch. “I received a lot of fatphobic messages inviting me to burn in hell in all languages, swastikas”, messages “of incredible violence in all languages”, confided the DJ after her complaint of cyberbullying, this Sunday, on France Inter.
Support from the Minister of Culture
The Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, expressed her support for X. “The Ministry of Culture stands, in their defense, alongside all the threatened artists who participated in the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Ministry of Culture is ready to constitute itself as a civil party. France, the country of freedom of creation, will not be intimidated.”
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games had sparked controversy, including a scene reminiscent of the biblical episode of the Last Supper, which brought together several drag queens. A scene that was welcomed by many viewers, but had sparked strong criticism in conservative and far-right circles, in France and abroad.