The DJ At The Center Of The Olympics Controversy Is Speaking Out
It didn't take long for the reactions to the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony to descend into outrage, threats, and insults, and now one person in the middle of the storm is speaking out against the hatred.
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00:00It didn't take long for the reactions to the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony to descend
00:05into outrage, threats, and insults, and now one person in the middle of the storm is speaking
00:08out against the hatred.
00:10The Olympic Games always marks its beginning with an extravagant opening ceremony, the
00:14result of years of planning and coordination by a huge team of creatives representing the
00:18host country.
00:19Sadly, 2024's ceremonies were affected by bad weather, with torrential rain hampering
00:23some of the performances.
00:25Reviews were mixed, with critics arguing that the show felt patchy and thrown together despite
00:28its immense scale.
00:29But all of that paled in comparison to the vicious online backlash the show received
00:33from people who thought a certain scene in the opening ceremony featuring performers
00:37in drag was offensive to Christians.
00:39The scene in question saw drag queens and other members of the queer community gathered
00:43at a long dining table, which drew immediate comparisons to Leonardo da Vinci's painting
00:47The Last Supper.
00:48Images of the scene, titled Festivity, have circulated widely on social media, with commentators
00:53spouting their anger that the religious scene had seemingly been parodied and satirized.
00:57Even the French Catholic Church claimed it, quote, included scenes of derision and mockery
01:01of Christianity.
01:02However, despite early reports that The Last Supper inspired the segment, organizers have
01:06poured cold water on the comparison, claiming that the likeness was entirely unintentional.
01:10Instead, the scene was actually intended to be a recreation of the Feast of the Mythical
01:14God Dionysus, as represented in the painting The Feast of the Gods by 17th-century Dutch
01:19painter Jan van Beylert.
01:20The director of the ceremony, Thomas Jolly, explained that the show he put together was
01:24intended as a reflection of the freedoms enjoyed by French citizens in modern society,
01:28saying,
01:29"...I wanted to say that we're a big us.
01:31And last night there were ideas from the French Republic.
01:33There were inclusive ideas, ideas of kindness, of generosity, ideas of solidarity, which
01:37I think we desperately need."
01:39He also said that the eye-popping character dressed in blue is key to understanding the
01:42reference to Dionysus, which ties into Olympic history and French culture.
01:46He said,
01:47"...There's Dionysus who arrives at the table.
01:49Why is he there?
01:50Because he's the god of feasting, of wine.
01:52And the father of Sequanna, the goddess of the river Seine."
01:54Nevertheless, the organizers felt the need to offer an apology for festivity.
01:58"...Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group."
02:06However, some of the performers in the segment aren't impressed with either the criticism
02:09or the apology.
02:10Hugo Bardon, a drag artist whose character appeared in Festivity, said,
02:14"...An apology means recognizing a mistake, recognizing that you deliberately did something
02:18to harm, which was not the case.
02:20What bothers people isn't that we're reproducing this painting.
02:22What bothers people is that queer people are reproducing it."
02:25And as many news outlets later reported, DJ Barbara Butch, who was central to the tableau
02:29in a blue dress and extravagant headdress, possibly representing Apollo, the Greek sun
02:33god, has been the victim of vicious online abuse since her appearance in the opening
02:37ceremony.
02:38In a statement posted on the DJ's Instagram page, Butch's lawyer wrote,
02:41"...she has been threatened with death, torture, and rape, and has also been the target of
02:44numerous anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and gross-o-phobic insults."
02:48Pushing back against the vile hatred that her performances faced, Butch and the lawyer
02:52have announced that they were filing multiple police complaints against those who have abused
02:55and threatened her illegally.
02:57In the caption that accompanied the post, Butch wrote,
02:59"...whatever some may say, I exist.
03:01I've never been ashamed of who I am, and I take responsibility for everything, including
03:04my artistic choices.
03:06All my life, I've refused to be a victim.
03:08I won't shut up."