France’s new crackdown on cyberbullying sees seven charged in “first wave” of arrests against those who trolled the creator of the Paris 2024 Olympics LGBT-themed opening ceremony.
Seven people have been arrested across France this week, accused of making death threats, insults, and of cyberbullying of figures involved with the 2024 Paris Olympics including most prominently the artistic director of the much-criticised opening ceremony, Thomas Jolly. The opening ceremony grabbed headlines globally for its overt political and social themes, with many decrying it as ‘woke’ and extravagantly anti-Christian.
Those arrested are six men aged between 22 and 79 years old, and a 57-year-old woman. France’s Le Figaro cites a source inside the investigation said “some” of those arrested had “worrying profiles”, and said one is allegedly seen by the government as being a “professional hate monger”.
They made clear others who had insulted the creator of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony and his colleagues should fear the arrival of police officers shortly, saying: “This is a first wave of arrests, there will be others, the investigators will go all the way”.
The Associated Press, which hailed Jolly’s creation as a “daring blend of French tradition and LGBTQ+ expression” notes Jolly experienced “homophobic and antisemitic abuse” for his direction of the Olympics show, and those found guilty of cyberbullying could expect “potential prison sentences and significant fines”.
The investigation into hate speech against the Paris Olympics ceremony has been spearheaded by the Paris prosecutors’ National Center for the Fight against Online Hate (PNLH) and the Paris Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes (OCLCH). Jolly himself was reported at the time to have filed a complaint with police over his treatment by the public within days of the opening ceremony being staged. The Mayor of Paris offered Jolly her unwavering support, Politico having reported she said at the time of the criticism of the city’s showpiece event: “Fuck the reactionaries, fuck this far right, fuck all of those who would like to lock us into a war of all against all”.
The PNLH is cited by the French government “Ministry of Gender Equality and the Fight Against Discrimination” in a document on the “National Plan for quality and the fight against anti-LGBT hatred and discrimination”, an initiative of President Emmanuel Macron going back to 2017. The body is listed as a partner agency in the fight against “LGBTphobia”, it states.
The Paris Prosecutor said on Friday that those cyberbullying the Olympics creative team online were allegedly seeking to “intimidate and silence expressions of inclusivity”. The hearing for those arrested so far has been set for early March 2025.