Following the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics, drag artist Nicky Doll was feeling on cloud nine. Her makeup had survived 45 minutes of torrential rain as she performed on a bridge over the River Seine, and she had just witnessed waacking and voguing, two dance forms with queer roots, reach a global audience of billions.
Back in the locker room, which was on a boat, the mood was celebratory. “We were all very proud that in 2024, we were given the platform to be”, says Doll, known for her appearance on the reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race and as host of Drag Race France.
It was not until the next day that Doll realized that he was also at the center of a backlash of Olympic proportions. The French Catholic bishops reviled The ceremony was a “mockery and a mockery of Christianity.” Donald Trump called the spectacle “a disgrace.” Critics focused their ire on one scenewhere Doll posed alongside others Acceleration race artists, interpreting it as a parody of the The last supperpainting by Leonardo da Vinci and an important image of Christian iconography. Organizers denied That was the inspiration, but by then it didn’t matter anymore. The online crowd had their momentum.
On Doll’s phone, that impulse took the form of a series of notifications. Her name was being tagged. Personal attacks were piling up in her DMs. Then came the threats: “we know where you live,” “we have guns,” “we’ll cut your throat.” Other artists were being harassed, too. A special police unit dedicated to combating hate crimes was tasked with investigating online abuse directed at lesbian activist DJ Barbara Butch, the Paris prosecutor’s office he told the Associated Press.
“As queer people, we are used to being criticized on social media,” says Doll, who is from Marseille but now lives in New York. “But when we saw that they were using religion… to attack us, it felt like a low blow that we didn’t expect.”
Behind the messages were the usual horde of anonymous trolls, hiding behind accounts with no name or profile picture. But among them was also Laurence Fox, a British actor turned right-wing commentator who has made a name for himself by making comments. misogynist and homophobic remarks. On the night of the opening ceremony, amid backlash, Fox posted a video of the X-rated catwalk scene, calling the cast “little pedophiles.” The post remains visible on the platform with a fact-checking label that reads: “There is no evidence that any of the people in the photograph are pedophiles.”
In response, Doll, who appears in the video alongside Butch, decided to sue Fox for defamation in France. “I want to sue him personally, because I want him to understand that he can no longer use us for his personal agenda and that his words matter,” she says. “The message he sends to his fan base matters. He is an enabler of hate, homophobia and transphobia.” Representatives for Fox and X did not respond to WIRED’s requests for comment.