Published: 30 July 2024
Last updated: 28 August 2025
Updated August 2025: Barbara Butch’s Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony performance is trending again after resurfacing in global media. This has sparked renewed conversation about representation and identity on the world stage.
The Queer Jewish Artist Who Lit Up the Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony
The woman at the centre of the controversial ‘Feast of Dionysus’ tableau featured during the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony on Friday, 26 July. She is something of an LGBTQ+ icon in Paris. Furthermore, she is a proud Jew to boot.
French DJ and lesbian activist Barbara Butch, 43, stood front and centre among a glamorous lineup of models, performers, and drag queens. This was part of a segment of the opening ceremony that has been dubbed “blasphemous” for allegedly parodying Leonardo da Vinci's “The Last Supper” painting. Christian figures around the globe have made such claims.
Once told she's "too much," Barbara Butch hopes her story gives hope to others.
The response to the performance was one of outrage among Catholic and Christian groups as well as conservative politicians. Especially in the US, many perceived it to be a mockery of the iconic painting of Jesus and his 12 apostles.
Butch, a self-described “love activist” who grew up in a traditional Jewish household, said she aimed to “unite people, gather people and share love through music.”
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