A French DJ and lesbian activist has filed a lawsuit against prosecutors over cyberbullying and death threats linked to her performance at the Olympics opening ceremony, her lawyer and a source close to the case said.
Barbara Butch, a body-positive feminist, was at the center of a scene featuring dancers and drag queens during Friday’s show that evoked depictions of the Last Supper, the last meal Jesus is said to have shared with his apostles.
Organizers said they intended to depict a pagan holiday and meant no offence, but Catholic groups, French bishops and US presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized the scene as an irreverent parody.
Butch on Monday wrote in an Instagram post that she had been the target of “particularly violent … cyber-harassment.”
“Although I decided not to speak out at first to let the haters calm down, the messages I’m getting are getting more and more extreme,” he said.
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But “I will not be silent. I am not afraid of those behind a screen, or a pseudonym, to vent their hatred and frustrations… I am committed, and I am proud.”
He attached a statement from her lawyer Audrey Msellati saying her client had been “threatened with death, torture and rape” and had been the target of “anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist and degrading insults”.
“Today she is filing many complaints against these acts, whether they are committed by French nationals or foreigners, and she intends to prosecute anyone who bullies her in the future,” he said.
This was confirmed by the source close to the case.
Msellati told AFP on Tuesday that she believed the DJ’s French critics “can’t stand her representing France, because she’s a woman, a lesbian, fat and Jewish.”
“The problem is their intolerance,” he added.
The scene — intended to promote tolerance of different sexual and gender identities — also featured French actor Philippe Katerine, who appeared on a silver serving plate, nearly naked and painted blue.
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He was meant to be Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and pleasure, who was the father of Sequana, the goddess of the river Seine.
Olympic organizing committee spokeswoman Anne Descamps said her team stood by its artists.
“We strongly condemn the online bullying our ceremony and artistic team has been subjected to,” he said.
“It depicts a pagan festival,” he insisted. “If anyone has been offended, it was not intentional.”
Trump said Monday on Fox News, “I’m very open-minded, but I thought what they did was a disgrace.”
Source: AFP