After the Summer Olympics’ opening ceremony, drag artist Nicky Doll felt she was on a cloud. Her makeup had survived 45 minutes of torrential rain as she performed on a bridge over the Seine River and she’d just witnessed waacking and voguing, both dance forms with queer roots, reach a worldwide audience of billions of people.
Back in the dressing room, which was on a boat, the mood was celebratory. “We were all so proud that in 2024, we were given the platform to be,” says Doll, known for her appearance on the reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race and as the host of Drag Race France.
It wasn’t until the next day that Doll realized she was also at the center of an Olympic-sized backlash. French Catholic bishops decried the ceremony’s “derision and mockery of Christianity.” Donald Trump called the show “a disgrace.” Critics focused their anger on one scene, where Doll posed alongside other Drag Race artists, interpreting it as a parody of the Last Supper, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci and an important image in Christian iconography. Organizers denied that was the inspiration. But by then, it didn’t matter. The online mob had its momentum.
On Doll’s phone, that momentum took the form of a slew of notifications. Her name was getting tagged. Personal attacks were filing into her DMs. Then came the threats: “we know where you live,” “we have guns,” “we will cut your throat.” Other performers were getting harassed, too. A special police unit dedicated to fighting hate crimes was tasked with investigating online abuse targeted at lesbian activist DJ Barbara Butch, the Paris prosecutor’s office told the Associated Press.
“As queer people, we are used to being criticized on social media,” says Doll, who is from Marseille but now lives in New York. “But when we saw they were using religion … in order to attack us, this felt like a low blow that we didn’t see coming.”
Behind the messages were the usual crowd of anonymous trolls, hiding behind accounts with no names or profile pictures. But among them was also Laurence Fox, a British actor turned right-wing commentator, who has become notorious for making misogynistic and homophobic comments. On the night of the opening ceremony, amid the backlash, Fox posted a video of the catwalk scene on X, calling the cast “little pedos.” The post remains visible on the platform with a fact-check label that says: “There is no evidence that any of the people in the photograph are pedophiles.”
In response, Doll, who features in the video next to Butch, decided to sue Fox for defamation in France. “I want to sue him personally, because I want him to understand that he cannot continue to use us for his personal agenda and his words matter,” she says, “The message that he sends to his fan base matters. He’s an enabler for hate and homophobia and transphobia.” Representatives for Fox and X did not reply to WIRED’s requests for comment.
For Doll, the concern is that the type of rhetoric that came in response to the opening ceremony, if left to spread unchecked, could inspire offline violence. “Queer people could be literally murdered in the streets,” she says. “It’s very important that we stop allowing this kind of rhetoric to demonize queer people. We are not demons. We are not trying to attack religion and families. We are just trying to live our lives and to have representation in the media for other people who are not loved or have not even come out to feel like they are seen.”
This is not the first time Fox has been sued by someone in the drag community. In April, a British court ordered him to pay £180,000 ($200,000) to Simon Blake, incoming CEO of British LGBTQ+ campaign group Stonewall, and Crystal, another star in the Drag Race universe, after calling the pair pedophiles on X.
Doll is hoping her case can dispel the idea that online mobs have to be endured alone. “I am showing them that the law is an option they can [pursue],” she says. “The government is on their side and there are things they can do when they are being attacked.”
Doll, who received the majority of the attacks via Instagram and X, says the two platforms have not been equal in their attempts to contain the abuse. “I think that Instagram and [parent company] Meta are doing as much as they can,” she says. After reporting DMs she received through the app, the company responded to tell her those profiles had been removed.
On X, however, she feels like there are barely repercussions for people spreading abuse. “I think that Twitter is a trash can of negativity and allows so much hate,” she says, using the platform’s previous name.
Yet this is not just about abuse targeting celebrities. “What worries me is that people are going through things like this “who do not have the power that I have,” she says.
