“There’s been a global repercussion, so the hate is coming exponentially,” DJ Barbara Butch says after her cyberbullying complaint

DJ Barbara Butch, who has been the victim of cyberbullying since her performance at the Olympic opening ceremony, was a guest on France Inter on Sunday.

After the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she appeared, “There has been a global repercussion, so the hate is coming exponentially”confided DJ Barbara Butch on France Inter on Sunday, August 4. The lesbian, queer and feminist artist and activist filed a complaint last Monday for cyberbullying. “I received a lot of fatphobic messages, messages inviting me to burn in hell, and this in all languages, I received swastikas, vile messages that I prefer not to even repeat because it is incredibly violent.”she explains.

This wave of messages has arrived “very quickly, almost instantly” after the opening ceremony, Butch said. The DJ was central to a scene that mixed fashion show and dancing. One scene was widely criticized by the French and international far right, as well as the French Bishops’ Conference and the Vatican, for its supposed resemblance to the Last Supper, but the artist says it is not “no way” a reinterpretation of the Last Supper. “We never talked about it,” she emphasizes.

Foreign political figures such as US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have also criticised the painting, which features members of the LGBT+ community. “These are the people who put me in danger and who still put me in danger.“, says the DJ. “I resent them for using me for their own ends.” For Barbara Butch, her detractors have “found this excuse of a painting to add another layer”. “It’s been years now, especially since the Manif pour tous, that we have been subjected to homophobia and transphobia” she continues.

The activist believes that “social networks and media”who can act as a sounding board, have their share of responsibility in this cyberbullying affair. She hopes that “The fight against cyberbullying becomes more global”by recognizing and protecting better “future or past victims” and changing the rules on social media. According to her, “France is more inclusive than it seems, it’s just that we hear the haters louder.”