Olympics: Macron condemns abuse of opening ceremony artists

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday he was "outraged" by the cyberbullying of the Olympic Games opening ceremony's choreographer.

Macron went on to praise what the called artist Thomas Jolly's "audacity," adding that the nation was proud of the Paris 2024 opening ceremony.

"The French were very proud of this ceremony," said Macron on the sidelines of a visit to Paris Olympics volunteers. "France showed its audacity with the artistic freedom that it comes with."

Jolly's "daring art in the opening ceremony made many people happy," he added.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also gave her "unwavering support" to Jolly, saying in a statement that he "held our values high."

"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," she added. "Paris will always be on the side of artists, of creation and therefore, on the side of freedom."

Death threats, insults and defamation

The Paris Prosecutors' Office said 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," prosecutors said in a statement, adding that France's Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes has been charged with the investigation.

French DJ and LGBTQ+ activist Barbara Butch, who also took part in the ceremony, also filed a complaint with prosecutors earlier this week over cyberbullying and death threats. 

Religious subversion unintentional

While the opening ceremony was largely praised, a scene that was interpreted as resembling the Last Supper sparked fury among the Catholic Church, far-right politicians in France and the religious right in the United States.

It featured drag queens, a transgender model and a naked singer made up as Dionysus, the Greek god of wine.

Paris 2024 organizers said they were sorry and had no intention to show disrespect towards any religious group.

Jolly also said that religious subversion had not been his intention. He said the scene was supposed to depict a pagan feast linked to the gods of Olympus, not "The Last Supper" painting by Leonardo Da Vinci of Jesus Christ and his apostles.

"I am outraged and sad," Macron said about threats and cyberbullying Jolly and others have suffered. "Nothing justifies threats against an artist."

km/sms (AFP, Reuters, AP)