JO-2024 Death threats investigations Targeting Organizers and Opening Ceremony Artists

JO-2024 Death threats investigations

Complaint for Death Threats

On August 5, 2024, the justice system was involved following a flood of insults and threats on social media, targeting notably Thomas Jolly, Barbara Butch, Nicky Doll, and the organizers of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. An investigation was opened after a complaint was filed on Saturday by the organizers, confirmed by the Paris prosecutor’s office, corroborating information from Le Parisien.

Complaint from Organizing Officials

Alexandre Billard, Deputy Director General of the event agency Ubi Bene, Thomas Jolly, Artistic Director of the opening ceremony, and Thierry Reboul, Executive Director of the Olympic and Paralympic Games ceremonies in Paris, all filed complaints for death threats, specified the prosecutor’s office. The investigation has been entrusted to the Brigade for the Suppression of Personal Delinquency (BRDP).

Read also : Nicky Doll Files Defamation Complaint Following Hate Messages

Cyberbullying and Criticism

Other investigations were opened following complaints filed by participants of the opening ceremony on July 26, criticized by religious authorities and conservative political leaders worldwide. After a cyberbullying campaign and a complaint from Thomas Jolly, the National Unit for Combating Online Hate (PNLH) of the prosecutor’s office opened an investigation entrusted to the Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes (OCLCH).

Threats Against Thomas Jolly

In his complaint, Thomas Jolly explained being the target of threats and insults on social media, criticizing his sexual orientation and his alleged Israeli origins. The prosecutor’s office confirmed this information.

Harassment Against Barbara Butch

Investigations were also launched by the Paris prosecutor’s office for aggravated cyberbullying and death threats targeting French DJ Barbara Butch. This feminist and lesbian activist, highlighted in a controversial segment of the ceremony, stated on France Inter on Sunday morning that she received grossophobic messages and swastikas, with unprecedented violence.

Attacks on Nicky Doll

Drag queen Nicky Doll was also targeted by hateful comments from former British actor Laurence Fox. On his X account, followed by over 527,000 subscribers, Fox compared the drag queen artists participating in the “Festivity” segment to “child molesters” and “deviant little pedophiles.” An investigation for public insults was opened on Friday.

Testimony from Jean-Baptiste Marteau

Journalist Jean-Baptiste Marteau, a prominent figure at France Télévisions, denounced the insults and homophobic threats he has been receiving in large numbers since the beginning of the Olympic Games in an interview with the online media Brut. Already outraged by this “unbearable” situation on Wednesday on the social network X, he stated, “Homophobia is no longer an opinion, it’s a crime.” Although he has grown accustomed to such messages since his public coming out in 2018, Marteau believes the attacks have intensified since the start of the Paris Olympics.

Presenting some of the Olympic broadcasts and commenting on equestrian events for France Télévisions, he noted an increase in the intensity and number of hateful messages, along with a sense of impunity among their authors.

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