Drag queen in Olympic opening ceremony has no regrets, calls it ‘a photograph of France in 2024’

AP National Writer

PARIS (AP) — As a gay youth growing up in France, Hugo Bardin never felt he lived in a world that represented who he was. A world in which he had a place. He now performs as the drag queen Paloma and felt it was important to be part of an Olympics opening ceremony that presented a multifaceted France with people of different ethnicities and orientations. Paloma took part in a scene that has drawn vitriol from those contending the scene mocked Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” although the artistic director has denied that.