Several performers who took part in the Olympics opening ceremony have indicated they wilk take legal action over the extreme level of abuse and threats to their safety they have recieved.
Lesbian DJ Barbara Butch, who appeared in a segment of the opening ceremony based around a feast featuring the Greek god Dionysus, has filed police reports over the abuse she has received online.
“Since the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games artist, DJ, and activist Barbara Butch has been the target of an extremely violent campaign of cyber-harassment and defamation,” Butch’s lawyer Audrey Msellati said in a statement.
The section of the opening ceremony the performer was involved in offended Christian and conservative groups who claim that a moment in the broadcast where performers posed alongside a catwalk resembled Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of The Last Supper.
The artistic director of the segment denied there was any intention to depict The Last Supper and Olympic officials issued an apology to people who mistakenly thought it was a comment on Christianity. But as politicians, religious leaders and the stars of 80’s sitcoms rallied against the depiction, the performers were hit by waves on online abuse.
French drag star Nicky Doll has also indicated she intends to launch defamation proceedings against aspiring British politician and former actor Laurence Fox over comments he posted online which appeared to describe the performs in a clip from the opening ceremony as “child f***ers” and “deviant little pedos”.
Earlier this year Fox lost a high-profile defamation case relating to online comments he made about British drag performer Crystal, and Simon Blake – a trustee of UK charity Stonewall. Fox was ordered to pay £180,000 in damages.
