Online right threatens Paris boycott after fashion show with drag queens
Alex Jones and others have called for the Paris Games to receive “the Bud Light treatment”
Written by Ari Drennen
Research contributions from Vesper Henry
Published
More than one year after their boycott of Bud Light for their backing of a single Instagram post by trans TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney, the online right have set their sights on a new and much-bigger target: the Paris Olympics. This time it’s over imagery that featured drag queens and two boxers they implied were trans.
28.6 million people in the United States alone watched the start of the Paris games, seeing athletes waving from boats of all sizes on the Seine, a tribute to a popular French game franchise, and a series of lively dances that took place all over the city. The moment that drew public ire came later in the event. At the end of a runway show meant to show off Paris’ status as a center of fashion, the models and viewers – some of whom were drag queens – posed in a tableau that many saw as a nod to “The Last Supper,” a famous painting by Leonardo da Vici of Jesus and his 12 pupils.
The online right did not like this.
The next day, at least two shows on Fox News gave airtime to the blooming backlash, with one bringing in a bishop to encourage people to push back on “evil” and “gird their loins … and stand athwart this pretty clear attack on us.” By Monday, both Fox and Sinclair were discussing calls for boycotts of the entire Games.
Sean Hannity said that he wasn’t interested in watching. Daily Wire host Michael Knowles – who seemed to find the thing so grotesque that he blurred images of it on his show – suggested that because the Olympics showed a lack of respect for “the true God,” he would not watch it. Harris Faulkner on Fox’s Outnumbered stated that the planners of the events had a “disease,” and her co-hosts were newly outraged that Trans Day of Visibility, which is always on March 31, fell on Easter this year.
Citation From the July 29, 2024, edition of Fox News' Outnumbered
Fired former Daily Wire host Candace Owens claimed that the event was set up as a tribute to Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France, whom she has falsely claimed in several recent episodes of her new show was born a man.
Smelling blood, Alex Jones and others called for the Paris Games to be given “the Bud Light treatment.”
French DJ Barbara Butch, who sat in the middle of the tableau at question, was forced to file complaints to the police after a flood of threats of death, torture, and rape, along with other hate speech.
On Tuesday, Riley Gaines, J.K. Rowling, and Libs of TikTok raised complaints against two boxers they strongly implied were trans, with Libs of TikTok again calling for a boycott in response.
As stated by NBC News, both boxers have fought as women for their entire careers and neither has said they are trans or intersex. There are zero out trans women competing in the Paris Games as a result of new guidelines. Despite these rules, U.S. women’s rugby player Ilona Maher shared that she had also received a flood of online abuse by people calling her a man.
So far, ratings for the Paris games are up 79% over those held four years ago in Tokyo.