Current:Home > reviewsDrag queen in Olympic opening ceremony has no regrets, calls it ‘a photograph of France in 2024’ -Ascend Finance Compass
Drag queen in Olympic opening ceremony has no regrets, calls it ‘a photograph of France in 2024’
View
Date:2025-04-13 18:25:34
PARIS (AP) — As a gay youth growing up in central France, Hugo Bardin never felt he lived in a world that represented who he was — a world in which he had a place.
And that is why Bardin, who performs as the drag queen Paloma, felt it was meaningful and important to be part of a Paris Olympics opening ceremony that presented a multifaceted, multiethnic France with people of different ethnicities and orientations.
“It was a really important moment for the French people and the representation of France around the world,” says Paloma, who took part in a single scene that has drawn some furious criticism — including from presidential candidate Donald Trump in the United States, who called it “a disgrace.”
Although the ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, and other participants have repeatedly said the scene wasn’t inspired by “The Last Supper,” critics interpreted that part of the show as a mockery of Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting showing Jesus Christ and his apostles.
Hugo Bardin who performs as the drag queen Paloma speaks, during an interview with The Associated Press in Paris, France, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Paloma, best known for winning “Drag Race France,” appeared with other drag artists and dancers alongside Barbara Butch, a popular DJ who wore a silver headdress that looked like a halo. Butch has now filed a complaint alleging online abuse and harassment, and Paris police have launched an investigation.
Paloma is not, at this point, planning to take legal action over online harassment, and would prefer to focus on the many “loving messages” that have been pouring in. The performer been getting thousands of messages daily, she told The Associated Press, most of them positive but some that she described as “violent” and even “from the Middle Ages.”
Still, there are no misgivings, despite the backlash. Paloma said she was proud to have been part of a show that did not rely on a series of French cliches — for example, “the Parisian with a baguette under their arm.”
“It could have been a postcard from 1930,” she said of the ceremony. “But instead, it was a photograph of France in 2024.”
Many agreed and praised the ceremony for its creativity, style and showmanship.
But French Catholic bishops and others were among those who said Christians had been offended, though Paris Olympics organizers have said there was “never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group” but rather to “celebrate community tolerance.”
Trump was asked on Fox News what he thought of the so-called “Last Supper” scene. “I’m very open-minded,” the former president and current Republican nominee told host Laura Ingraham, “but I thought what they did was a disgrace.”
Of Trump’s comments, Paloma said: “My first reaction is to say that if Donald Trump is not reacting, then we have not done our job.”
FILE - Drag queens prepare to perform on the Debilly Bridge in Paris, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. A storm of outrage about the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony took a legal turn Tuesday July 30, 2024, with a DJ who performed at the show saying her lawyer is filing complaints over a torrent of threats and other abuse that the LGBTQ+ icon has suffered online in the ceremony’s wake. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, File)
The criticism, she said, has been fueled by hate. “Where is the Catholicism, the Christianity in that? It is very hypocritical that their message is not about religion or kindness, it’s about hate towards Jews, fat people, queer people and trans people.”
“We have been accused of trying to impose our vision on the world,” Bardin said. “We are not. ... We just want to let people know that we have a place in the world, and we are claiming that place.”
Paloma spoke to the AP in a phone interview and later at her Paris workshop, a studio devoted to her drag performance. Bardin debuted the drag queen persona some five years ago, the Spanish name inspired by the films of Pedro Almodóvar.
Asked if she had any regrets, Paloma replied: “My only regrets is people’s reactions. I’m sorry if people are offended, but we did not try to parody, to mock ‘The Last Supper.’ It was not the point. So I can’t regret what I did. I’m sorry for people to only see things in a bad way.”
She added: “Maybe change the perspective. Change the point of view. Try to see the beauty in what we did. Because it was just beauty. It was just only about beauty and reunion, and reparation.”
___
AP journalists Nicolas Garriga and Amira Borders in Paris contributed to this report.
___
For more coverage of the Paris Olympics, visit https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games.
veryGood! (47998)
Related
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- 13 Skincare Gifts Under $50 That Are Actually Worth It
- NFL MVP rankings: Does Steelers QB Russell Wilson deserve any consideration?
- Stock market today: Asian stocks dip as Wall Street momentum slows with cooling Trump trade
- South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
- Disruptions to Amtrak service continue after fire near tracks in New York City
- After Baltimore mass shooting, neighborhood goes full year with no homicides
- Lee Zeldin, Trump’s EPA Pick, Brings a Moderate Face to a Radical Game Plan
- The Super Bowl could end in a 'three
- Florida education officials report hundreds of books pulled from school libraries
Ranking
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- Duke basketball vs Kentucky live updates: Highlights, scores, updates from Champions Classic
- MLS Star Marco Angulo Dead at 22 One Month After Car Crash
- As Northeast wildfires keep igniting, is there a drought-buster in sight?
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- How to Build Your Target Fall Capsule Wardrobe: Budget-Friendly Must-Haves for Effortless Style
- Patricia Heaton criticizes media, 'extremists' she says 'fear-mongered' in 2024 election
- Republican Gabe Evans ousts Democratic US Rep. Yadira Caraveo in Colorado
Recommendation
Gen. Mark Milley's security detail and security clearance revoked, Pentagon says
The Bachelorette's Desiree Hartsock Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby No. 3 With Chris Siegfried
Mariah Carey's Amazon Holiday Merch Is All I Want for Christmas—and It's Selling Out Fast!
Monument erected in Tulsa for victims of 1921 Race Massacre
Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
Contained, extinguished and mopping up: Here’s what some common wildfire terms mean
Justice Department sues to block UnitedHealth Group’s $3.3 billion purchase of Amedisys
Why Outer Banks Fans Think Costars Rudy Pankow and Madison Bailey Used Stunt Doubles Amid Rumored Rift