Drag Race star Nicky Doll has officially taken legal action against right-winged commentator Laurence Fox.
On 26 July, the 2024 Paris Olympics kicked off with an incredible opening ceremony.
Taking place along the Seine, the larger-than-life event showcased the various athletes competing in the games and included dazzling performances by Lady Gaga, Céline Dion and Aya Nakamura.
The ceremony also featured a Feast of Dionysus-inspired performance with a sickening runway segment from Drag Race France stars Nicky, Paloma and Piche.
While the performance was a hit amongst many pop culture enthusiasts, it also drew significant backlash from many anti-LGBTQIA+ critics, like Fox, who called the queens “deviant little pedos” on X/Twitter.
It didn’t take long for Nicky to respond to Fox’s bizarre rant, with the former expressing her intention to take legal action against him like her Drag Race peer and friend Cyrstal.
“Since you didn’t learn the first time around when you called my friend @crystalwillseeu a pedo, I’m going to show you that you don’t get to write things like that about queer people for the fun and the misinformation of it and go away with it. See you in court, again, @LozzaFox,” she wrote.
Staying true to her word, Nicky filed a lawsuit against Fox, with her lawyer Anne-Sophie Laguens announcing the news in a press release on 2 August,
“Following the opening ceremony of the Olympics Games on July 26 2024, the artists who performed on the Debilly footbridge suffered an unprecedented wave of hatred and faced the trivialisation of insults due to their sexual orientation and gender identity,” the translated statement read, per Out.
“The firm was notified by Mr Karl Sanchez, known as Nicky Doll, of a defamation complaint filed against Laurence Fox and other users of the social network X (Twitter).
“Nicky Doll, who has been receiving insults and hate messages for years, has suffered an unprecedented wave of animosity and ill will since her performance on the ‘Festivity’ table of the ceremony, going as far as death threats. These messages go far beyond artistic criticism, and, for some, convey hateful and defamatory conflations, equating drag performances and paedophilia. These comparisons are serious and unacceptable.”
Shortly after announcing the lawsuit, Nicky shared a defiant and powerful statement on her X profile, stating that she would never again allow herself or “other queer people to be defamed and demonised.”
She added: “If responding with love doesn’t work for some, then responding with justice should work. See you in court.”
Communiqué de dépôt de plainte à la suite de la cérémonie d’ouverture des Jeux Olympiques. @thenickydoll
cc @stop_homophobie pic.twitter.com/M6EJHtSPIY— Anne-Sophie Laguens (@aslaguens) August 2, 2024
Nicky’s pending lawsuit against Fox comes eight months after the latter lost his libel case against Drag Race UK star Crystal.
Similar to the Drag Race season 12 star, Fox falsely branded Crystal and former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake as “paedophiles” on social media in October 2020.
In January, High Court judge Mrs Justice Collins Rice ultimately ruled in favour of Crystal and Blake, in addition to dismissing Fox’s arguments.
“Mr Fox’s labelling of Mr Blake and Mr Seymour as paedophiles was, on the evidence, probabilities and facts of this case, seriously harmful, defamatory and baseless,” she said.
“The law affords few defences to defamation of this sort.
“Mr Fox did not attempt to show these allegations were true, and he was not able to bring himself on the facts within the terms of any other defence recognised in law.”
Stay tuned for more updates on the situation.