French president denounces intimidation of Olympic Games Opening artistic director

French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken out in support of Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the Olympic Games opening ceremony, who has faced vitriolic criticism from conservatives and filed a police complaint over death threats and cyber harassment. Paris prosecutors have launched an investigation into Jolly’s claims. Variety has confirmed.

Jolly filed a complaint on July 30, the same day the ceremony’s DJ, known as Barbara Butch, also filed a complaint of cyber harassment. While the opening ceremony has been widely praised for its originality and innovation — and is the first in modern history to be held outdoors — it has also been the subject of backlash from the Catholic Church and from prominent conservative figures like Rob Schneider and Candace. Cameron Bure, who objected to a scene that resembled Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper.”

Jolly told French channel BFMTV over the weekend that the segment was not in fact inspired by “The Last Supper,” and was instead a tribute to Greek mythology, but it continued to stir controversy.

During a visit to an Olympic venue in the Invalides, Macron was quoted by news outlet AFP as saying: “Nothing justifies an artist being threatened. The French were very proud of this ceremony. France gave the face of what it is – it showed its courage and did it with the freedom it needed.”

In his complaint, Jolly said he was the “target of online threats and insults criticizing his sexual orientation and falsely assumed Israeli heritage,” prosecutors said.

Butch, who took part in the scene that appeared to be inspired by “The Last Supper,” announced on Instagram earlier this week that she had been “the target of an extremely violent campaign of cyber harassment and defamation.”

Her lawyer, Audrey Msellati, said Butch has received threats of death, torture and rape, and has also been the target of numerous anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist and fatphobic insults. “Barbara Butch condemns this despicable hatred directed at her, what she represents and what she stands for,” the attorney said.

Responding to the controversy over the apparent parody of ‘The Last Supper’, Jolly said the scene which unleashed a barrage of hate speech was intended to raise awareness ‘of the absurdity of violence between people’, and denied that it inspired was by Da Vinci’s religious painting.

Instead, Jolly said the idea was to have “a grand pagan festival connected to the gods of Olympus.”

“It was quite clear, it is Dionysus who comes to the table. Why is he there? Because Dionysus is the Greek god of festivities (…) and wine, and is the father of Sequana, the goddess of the River Seine,” he said.

Jolly is now busy preparing for the closing ceremony which will take place at the Stade de France and will feature a Tom Cruise stunt along with ‘world famous artists’.