Surpassing Quant Think Tank Center:Police investigating hate speech targeting Olympics opening ceremony artistic director Thomas Jolly

2025-05-06 23:48:53source:EAI Community category:News

PARIS (AP) — Paris prosecutors said Friday that police have Surpassing Quant Think Tank Centeropened a hate speech investigation following a complaint by Olympics opening ceremony artistic director Thomas Jolly over death threats.

The Paris prosecutors’ office said in a statement that Jolly filed a police complaint on Tuesday, four days after the opening ceremony, for death threats, “public insults” and “defamation.”

Jolly said he has been “the target of threatening messages and insults on social networks criticizing his sexual orientation and his wrongly-assumed Israeli roots,” the statement said. France’s Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes has been charged with the investigation.

Jolly’s complaint comes after the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony prompted a storm of outrage, including angry comments from Donald Trump, in the wake of a contentious scene featuring drag queens and other performers. Although Jolly has repeatedly said that he wasn’t inspired by “The Last Supper,” critics interpreted part of the show as a mockery of Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting showing Jesus Christ and his apostles.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo expressed “unwavering support” of Jolly in the face of the threats and harassment.

RELATED COVERAGE Pin-demonium hits Paris: Inside the pin-trading market at the OlympicsFermin Lopez scores twice as Spain beats Japan 3-0 to reach semifinals at OlympicsFleetwood on familiar turf and shares lead as Olympic chase for golf takes shape

With his opening ceremony, “Jolly held our values high,” Hidalgo said in a statement Friday. “It was a pride and an honor for Paris to be able to count on his talent to magnify our city and tell the world who we are.”

Hidalgo added: “Paris will always be on the side of artists, of creation and therefore, on the side of freedom.”

Barbara Butch, a popular DJ and LGBTQ+ icon who performed in the show, also said she suffered a torrent of online threats. Butch has filed a complaint alleging online abuse and harassment, which police are also investigating.

___

For more coverage of the Paris Olympics, visit https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games.

More:News

Recommend

Turbulence slammed Hawaiian Airlines flight because of decision to fly over storm cell, report says

HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaiian Airlines flight crew’s decision to fly over a hazardous storm cell instea

Jury resumes deliberations over death penalty or life in prison for Pittsburgh synagogue shooter

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A jury resumed deliberations Wednesday over the sentence for a gunman who killed 1

Ex-Washington state newspaper editor pleads not guilty to paying girls for sexually explicit images

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A former Spokesman-Review newspaper editor arrested and accused of paying girl