Photo: Joel Saget Agence France-Presse Thomas Jolly's complaint included the charges of “death threats because of his origin, death threats because of his sexual orientation, public insults because of his origin, public insults because of his sexual orientation and defamation.”
Karine Perret – Agence France-Presse, Tiphaine Le Liboux – Agence France-Presse, Clara Wright – Agence France-Presse in Paris
Published and updated on August 2
- Europe
The spectacular opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games on the Seine continues to make waves: after complaints from its artistic director Thomas Jolly and several artists, the French justice system is investigating a campaign of cyberbullying.
This show, criticized around the world by religious authorities and conservative politicians who saw it as an inappropriate reference to the Last Supper, has also sparked numerous reactions on the Internet.
The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation into cyberbullying on Wednesday after Thomas Jolly, artistic director of the four ceremonies of the Games, filed a complaint the day before with the Brigade for the Suppression of Crimes Against the Person, AFP learned on Friday from sources close to the case.
The director explained “being the target on social networks of messages of threats and insults criticizing his sexual orientation and his wrongly assumed Israeli origins”, confirmed the Paris prosecutor's office.
The charges included in his complaint are “death threats because of his origin, death threats because of his sexual orientation, public insult because of his origin, public insult because of his sexual orientation and defamation.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday evening he was “scandalized” and “sad” about the cyberharassment suffered by Thomas Jolly, believing that “nothing justifies threatening an artist.”
“The French were very proud of this ceremony […] France gave the face of what she is. […] She showed her audacity and then she did it with the appropriate artistic freedom,” added the Head of State on the sidelines of a trip to Paris to meet Games volunteers.
Asked by AFP, the Paris Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games said it “supports” Thomas Jolly, “as well as the authors and artists of the ceremony in the face of the attacks directed against them.”
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, for her part, gave “her unwavering support to Thomas Jolly.”
“During the opening ceremony, Thomas Jolly held our values high. It was a source of pride and an honor for Paris to be able to count on his talent to magnify our city and tell the world what we are,” she added.
Another investigation was opened Tuesday in Paris for aggravated cyberbullying and death threats targeting French DJ Barbara Butch, a feminist and lesbian activist, who was featured in a controversial tableau, embodied by drag queens, a transgender model and a teenager.
One of the drag queens, Nicky Doll, filed a complaint on Friday for defamation, in particular against former actor Laurence Fox who compared the artists in this sequence to “child fuckers” or “deviant little pedophiles” on his X account (more than 527,000 subscribers).
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« Authors abroad »
While the creativity of the ceremony, held on July 26, was praised by many spectators, the painting entitled “Festivity” has fueled controversy in conservative and far-right circles abroad as well as in France.
Starting with the image of a group seated at a table, including several famous drag queens (Nicky Doll, Paloma and Piche), it has been interpreted by some as a mocking parody of the last meal of Jesus with his apostles, the Last Supper, as depicted by Leonardo da Vinci, which the organizers deny, with Thomas Jolly explaining that he wanted to represent a “great pagan festival linked to the gods of Olympus.”
Former US President and White House candidate Donald Trump called it a “shame,” while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Pope Francis to “speak out” alongside him against the “perverse propaganda” he said the ceremony was spreading.
The investigation, led by the National Unit for Combating Online Hate at the public prosecutor’s office, has been handed over to the Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes, which has substantial resources, sources familiar with the case said.
“Many of the hateful messages” were written “in English,” one of them noted. Although the geographical origin of the messages had not yet been identified on Friday, “there are undoubtedly authors abroad,” said this source, stressing that the investigation was still in its early stages.