Police Investigate Death Threats Against Olympics Opening Ceremony Director
The Paris police are investigating death threats and online harassment targeting Thomas Jolly, the Olympic opening ceremony’s artistic director, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Friday.
While the opening ceremony was broadly praised in France, a banquet scene featuring drag queens fueled intense controversy in conservative circles after some people interpreted it as a parody of “The Last Supper,” Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of a biblical scene.
Mr. Jolly had filed a complaint earlier this week after he received a barrage of insults and threats online, some based on his “his sexual orientation,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Mr. Jolly was also targeted by insults based on a false assumption that he was from Israel, the office said. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had opened a hate speech investigation.
