The woman at the centre of the controversial ‘Feast of Dionysus’ tableau featured during the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday is something of an LGBTQ+ icon in Paris – and a proud Jew to boot.
French DJ and lesbian activist Barbara Butch, 43, stood front and centre among a glamourous lineup of models, performers and drag queens in a segment of the opening ceremony that has been dubbed “blasphemous” for supposedly parodying Leonardo Davinci’s Last Supper painting, according to Christian figures around the globe.
The response to the performance, which many perceived to be a mockery of the iconic painting of Jesus and his 12 apostles, was one of outrage among Catholic and Christian groups as well as conservative politicians, especially in the US. The French Catholic Church's conference of bishops denounced the performance for its "mockery and derision of Christianity," posting an official English statement that said: "We are thinking of all the Christians on every continent who have been hurt by the outrageousness and provocation of certain scenes."
US House Speaker Mike Johnson posted that the performance was "insulting to Christian people around the world," and "the war on our faith and traditional values knows no bounds today."
Organisers of the opening ceremony apologised for any offense caused, writing that the performance was intended to represent Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, and raise awareness “of the absurdity of violence between human beings.”
Butch has complained of antisemitism and “cyber-bullying” after Christians called the performance blasphemous.
Audrey Msellati, her lawyer, said that she was facing threats of “death, torture and rape”, as well as “numerous antisemitic, homophobic, sexist and fatphobic insults”.
Butch “intends to prosecute anyone who, in the future, seeks to intimidate her”, added Msellati.
According to Butch, a self-described “love activist” who grew up in a traditional Jewish household, her aim was to “unite people, gather people and share love through music.”
Barbara Butch attends the Attitude Pride Awards 2023 at Langham Hotel on June 22, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images)
Butch told Attitude magazine in 2023 that members of her family were killed in the Holocaust, and she experienced antisemitism during childhood. She found acceptance in the French Jewish Scouts, which she describes as a “safe space” with “poor and rich kids” where she learned to play the guitar and began to explore her sexuality.
She came out to her family at 18 and described suffering an abusive first relationship with a woman, an experience which spurred her activist efforts to this day.
“I’m a fat, Jewish, queer lesbian, and I’m really proud of all my identities, because they make me what I am now as a human. All the violence and negativity I’ve experienced, I can make it something bigger to help others go forward with a lot of love.”
Butch posed naked on the cover of French weekly magazine Télérama in 2020 beside the question: ‘But why do we reject fat people?’ and the feature led to her becoming a muse for designer Jean Paul Gaultier, who featured Butch in the campaign for his perfume, La Belle Intense.
Barbara has also appeared on television, as a guest celebrity judge on Drag Race France in 2023.
“I think my job is not only to make people dance but to make people feel more confident and to give them the right to exist for who they are,” she said.
