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The far right had little appreciation for the opening ceremony of the 2025 Olympic Games. The American president Donald Trump, that of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan but also the MEP Marion Maréchal Le Pen had interpreted the divine feast put on scene by Thomas Jolly as an anti-Christian blasphemy and saw an offense towards the Last Supper, the last meal of Jesus. After the show, DJ Barbara Butch, who was performing at the center of the banquet, was the subject of a global cyberbullying campaign. Insulted because she was Jewish, fat and lesbian, which she proudly claims, the LGBT icon had filed a complaint against several of her haters and won his case.
Consistently, several conservative media and intellectuals jumped when they learned of the appointment of Barbara Butch as artistic director of Nuit Blanche 2026 by the City of Paris. On CNews, Mathieu Bock-Côté castigated the choice of town hall, which according to him would result from a promotion of fights “multiculturalists”, “diversitaires”, “drag-queens” and “la sacralisation de ce qu’on appelle les migrants”. “Le Journal du Dimanche” does not consider that it was the anonymous profiles which caused an online controversy, but “the artist [qui] had aroused strong reactions » by reinterpreting the Last Supper. For its part, the media Frontières denounced the amount allocated by the city to Nuit Blanche and broadcast doubts about the probity of the call for tenders.
More than her artistic proposal, it is the personality of Barbara Butch which is attacked, and through her, the town hall of Paris. Suspicion is instilled from accusations mixing references to money, the supposed desire to pervert morals and attack Christianity. It is in this general context that a call for a boycott in the name of the defense of Palestine is added. This news cyber offensive dates back to April, when the DJ signed an article in “Point” in support of the “law aimed at combating renewed forms of anti-Semitism”.
Several LGBT influencers then denounced what they considered to be support for a law allowing the criminalization of support for Palestine. Starting from a political disagreement for a law to which I myself opposed, these denunciations very quickly changed their nature. Under Barbara Butch’s publications, a competing DJ, for example, invited his 145,000 followers to “Inquire about his mother’s dating [smiley clin d'Å“il]». It was no longer a question of political criticism but of hatred. Despite the multiplication of insults such as “Think grossly”, “juiverie”, “Grosse truie Zioniste”, « dégoûtant rond-point juif », “gross sac à merde juif” and other threats, Barbara Butch explained her action in a video on her Instagram account.
“I signed a platform to denounce anti-Semitism in France, which I experience on a daily basis, and since my childhood, which was even stronger after the Olympics. There are things to say about this law, but I am not a lawyer or a political scientist, my job is to make people dance.” The LGBT icon is accused of false naivety, duplicity and even complicity with the Israeli government, while she signed a paper for a law that promised to stem the violence against her. Once again, Barbara Butch is not attacked for what she does, but for who she is.
A final episode of this bad series is launched by the Grenoble section of La France insoumise. The latter requests the deprogramming of the musician from the Cabaret Frappé festival organized by the City, calling her “Supporting Israel” in the name of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanction) campaign for cultural boycott. The rebellious activists accuse him of having signed the Yadan law which “aimed to criminalize any support for the Palestinian people, including banning criticism of Israel’s colonial and genocidal regime,” for having hosted Tel Aviv Gay Pride in 2025 “en plein genocide”. And the campaign of threats, insults, and intimidation has resumed with a vengeance.
It turns out that the directives PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israël) specify very clearly that BDS “Rejects in principle boycotts of people based on their identity (such as their citizenship, race, gender or religion) or their opinion.” It only advocates the boycott of shows sponsored by the State or Israeli institutions. It also turns out that the Yadan law was not intended to prevent criticism of Israel. This interpretation, although widely relayed in the public debate, is contested even by critics of the law, such as lawyers Cédric Uzan-Sarano and Cécile Ostier. It also turns out that not only did Barbara Butch never host Pride in Tel Aviv, but the 2025 edition was canceled. Finally, how could Barbara Butch be both a supporter of the Israeli far-right government, whose members have increased the number of homophobic outings, and animator of Pride in Tel Aviv? Minister Bezalel Smotrich defines himself as a “Fascist homophobe”. The necessary criticism of the policies of pinkwashing shrivels in on itself when it relies on imaginary facts.
An appeal which deviates from the principles it invokes, analyzes which do not hold water, invented facts, it is therefore once again the identity of Barbara Butch which is called into question. Political action is not judged by the intentions of the actors who deploy it, but by its effects. The first effect of the declaration of La France insoumise is clear: the anti-Semitic and grossophobic hatred which is surging towards the DJ. Will the rebels take note or converge with the extreme right to try to cancel Barbara Butch at Nuit Blanche 2026 in order to avenge their defeat in the Paris mayoral elections?
BIO EXPRESS
Jonas Pardo is a researcher and director of the Boussole antiraciste association, with which he offers training in the fight against all forms of racism. He is co-author with Samuel Delor of the “Little Manual to Combat Anti-Semitism” (Common, 2024).
This article is a column, written by an author external to the newspaper and whose point of view does not commit the editorial staff.
