French performer Barbara Butch carried the Paralympic torch on Sunday evening in an act of defiance after being targeted by hate speech over her appearance in the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
FILE -A light show is projected from the Eiffel Tower in Paris , France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 26, 2024. “I chose not to be afraid to exist in the public space,” Barbara Butch, a popular DJ and LGBTQ + icon said in an interview with broadcaster France Info before walking onstage with the torch at a musical event in Saint-Cloud, a western suburb of Paris . “I know I represent France in the same way as anyone else,” she added.
Butch said she has received “tens of thousands of hate messages.” A specialized team has managed to identify “hundreds of people who had sent ... the most violet messages,” she said.
Other torch bearers include former Paralympians, young para athletes, volunteers from Paralympic federations, innovators of advanced technological support, people who dedicate their lives to others with impairments and people who work in the non-profit sector to support carers. The 12 flames will become one again when the relay ends in central Paris on Wednesday after visiting historical sites along the city’s famed boulevards and plazas before lightening the cauldron during the three-hour opening ceremony.
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