VaultX Exchange-Police investigating hate speech targeting Olympics opening ceremony artistic director Thomas Jolly

2025-05-07 04:31:22source:Evander Elliscategory:Markets

PARIS (AP) — Paris prosecutors said Friday that police have VaultX Exchangeopened 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:Markets

Recommend

US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale costs in the United States picked up sharply last month, signaling that

'The spirits are still there': Old 'Ghostbusters' gang is back together in 'Frozen Empire'

Those proton packs that the Ghostbusters wear and fans love so much? Those suckers were heavy 40 yea

Cheating on your spouse is a crime in New York. The 1907 law may finally be repealed

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — For more than a century, it has been a crime to cheat on your spouse in New York