French drag queen Nicky Doll has sued inflammatory British activist Laurence Fox after he targeted drag queens involved in the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
A group of drag queens were faced with huge backlash online after appearing for a segment of the ceremony, with figures such as Fox taking to social media to attack the group of performers. The artists said they were depicting a party of Greek gods.
In a post on X, Fox, 46, shared the clip with the caption: ‘No point in getting wound up when the child f**kers want to wind you up. Just laugh at the deviant little pedos. Eternity is a b***h.’
One of the drag queens involved, Nicky, real name Karl Sanchez, took to social media on Friday to share a statement from their lawyer Anne Sophie-Laguens about their legal action against Fox.
The statement reads: ‘Following the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 26, 2024, the artists who performed on the Debilly catwalk were subjected to unprecedented wave of hatred, and faced the trivialisation of insults due to sexual orientation or gender identity.
‘Stop Homophobia lawyers have received numerous reports of incitement to hatred, insults, online harassment, threats and defamation.
‘The firm was contacted by Mr Karl Sanchez, known as Nicky Doll, with a complaint in defamation filed against Mr. Laurence Fox and other users of the social network X (Twitter).
‘Nicky Doll, who has been receiving insults and hate messages for years has been subjected to an unprecedented wave of animosity and malice since her performance on the Festivity section of the ceremony, including death threats.
‘These messages go far beyond artistic criticism and for some convey odious and defamatory amalgams, equating drag performance to pedophilia.
‘These comparisons are serious and unacceptable. It is in this sense that justice has been seized, and that any publication or message equating Nicky Doll’s performance with the encouragement of pedophilia practices will be reported.’
In a statement to Today.com, Sanchez added to the Reclaim Party founder: ‘I’m about to sue you again for defamation – the same exact topic that you were sued on and lost.
‘This is my kind of activism. I’m going to make him pay for the things that everybody else is saying, because I want to show that it is time now to stop labeling queer people in an evil way,’
This is not the first time Fox has faced legal action. The public figure recently lost a High Court libel case filed by Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal. He had to pay them £90,000 per person in damages.
This was after he called them pedophiles online when he was slammed for criticising Sainsbury’s plans for safe space for Black employees.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk after the verdict, Crystal said: ‘There’s a lot of nasty pieces of work in the world with right-wing punditry, politics, and Twitter personalities.
‘I hope this is some kind of reminder that defamation laws exist in this country and that there are consequences.’
Crystal added: ‘Beyond the harm that he caused me, I’m really happy for this judgment because it really makes the point that this language isn’t acceptable, and hopefully it will prevent other people from experiencing what I’ve experienced.’
Laurence Fox is yet to respond to the latest lawsuit filing.
Other figures such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk also slammed the drag performance which some believed was attempting to recreate Leonardo DaVinci’s Last Supper.
‘Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. (The opening ceremony) tried to celebrate community tolerance,’ Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps told a press conference.
‘We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence we are really sorry.’
After the ceremony, Sanchez who performed I Had A Dream as Doll took to Instagram to share why they loved the drag portion.
‘The opening ceremony did ruffle some feathers… and I LOVE it. You know why?’ she began.
‘Because the Olympics are the biggest stage in the world and us queer people have always been the audience of other people’s life and achievement and it is the time that were are welcome in the space.’
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Laurence Fox’s representative for comment.
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