PARIS (AP) — As a homosexual youth rising up in central France, Hugo Bardin by no means felt he lived in a world that represented who he was — a world during which he had a spot.
And that’s the reason Bardin, who performs because the drag queen Paloma, felt it was significant and vital to be a part of a Paris Olympics opening ceremony that offered a multifaceted, multiethnic France with individuals of various ethnicities and orientations.
“It was a extremely vital second for the French individuals and the illustration of France world wide,” says Paloma, who took half in a single scene that has drawn some livid criticism — together with from presidential candidate Donald Trump in the US, who known as it “a shame.”
Though the ceremony’s inventive director, Thomas Jolly, and different contributors have repeatedly mentioned the scene wasn’t impressed by “The Final Supper,” critics interpreted that a part of the present as a mockery of Leonardo Da Vinci’s portray displaying Jesus Christ and his apostles.
Hugo Bardin who performs because the drag queen Paloma speaks, throughout an interview with The Related Press in Paris, France, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Picture/Michel Euler)
Paloma, finest recognized for profitable “Drag Race France,” appeared with different drag artists and dancers alongside Barbara Butch, a preferred DJ who wore a silver headdress that appeared like a halo. Butch has now filed a grievance alleging on-line abuse and harassment, and Paris police have launched an investigation.
Paloma isn’t, at this level, planning to take authorized motion over on-line harassment, and would like to concentrate on the numerous “loving messages” which have been pouring in. The performer been getting hundreds of messages every day, she informed The Related Press, most of them constructive however some that she described as “violent” and even “from the Center Ages.”
Nonetheless, there are not any misgivings, regardless of the backlash. Paloma mentioned she was proud to have been a part of a present that didn’t depend on a collection of French cliches — for instance, “the Parisian with a baguette below their arm.”
“It may have been a postcard from 1930,” she mentioned of the ceremony. “However as a substitute, it was {a photograph} of France in 2024.”
Many agreed and praised the ceremony for its creativity, type and showmanship.
However French Catholic bishops and others had been amongst those that mentioned Christians had been offended, although Paris Olympics organizers have mentioned there was “by no means an intention to point out disrespect to any spiritual group” however fairly to “have fun neighborhood tolerance.”
Trump was requested on Fox Information what he considered the so-called “Final Supper” scene. “I’m very open-minded,” the previous president and present Republican nominee informed host Laura Ingraham, “however I believed what they did was a shame.”
Of Trump’s feedback, Paloma mentioned: “My first response is to say that if Donald Trump isn’t reacting, then we’ve not accomplished our job.”
FILE – Drag queens put together to carry out on the Debilly Bridge in Paris, through the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer time Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. A storm of shock concerning the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony took a authorized flip Tuesday July 30, 2024, with a DJ who carried out on the present saying her lawyer is submitting complaints over a torrent of threats and different abuse that the LGBTQ+ icon has suffered on-line within the ceremony’s wake. (AP Picture/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, File)
The criticism, she mentioned, has been fueled by hate. “The place is the Catholicism, the Christianity in that? It is extremely hypocritical that their message isn’t about faith or kindness, it’s about hate in the direction of Jews, fats individuals, queer individuals and trans individuals.”
“We now have been accused of making an attempt to impose our imaginative and prescient on the world,” Bardin mentioned. “We aren’t. … We simply need to let individuals know that we’ve a spot on this planet, and we’re claiming that place.”
Paloma spoke to the AP in a cellphone interview and later at her Paris workshop, a studio dedicated to her drag efficiency. Bardin debuted the drag queen persona some 5 years in the past, the Spanish identify impressed by the movies of Pedro Almodóvar.
Requested if she had any regrets, Paloma replied: “My solely regrets is individuals’s reactions. I’m sorry if persons are offended, however we didn’t attempt to parody, to mock ‘The Final Supper.’ It was not the purpose. So I can’t remorse what I did. I’m sorry for individuals to solely see issues in a foul means.”
She added: “Possibly change the angle. Change the viewpoint. Attempt to see the wonder in what we did. As a result of it was simply magnificence. It was simply solely about magnificence and reunion, and reparation.”
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AP journalists Nicolas Garriga and Amira Borders in Paris contributed to this report.
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For extra protection of the Paris Olympics, go to https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games.
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