The popular French Jewish DJ Barbara Butch is holding a firm stance after pro-Palestinian activists interrupted her concert in Grenoble, France, declaring she will not be intimidated from performing.

Butch has also received backing from Jewish activists who protested outside the office of the far-left party whose leading Grenoble official urged cancellation of her show and has since reinforced that position, gaining support from anti-Zionist French Jews along the way.

Butch, who rose to fame after performing at the opening ceremony of the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris, was escorted off the stage at the Cabaret Frappé festival on Saturday, just 20 minutes into her set.

The City of Grenoble filed a complaint against what it described as unknown individuals following the incident. Mayor Laurence Ruffin noted authorities had evidence of violence and sabotage of electrical equipment. She dismissed claims that the protest was peaceful.

There were actions that are unacceptable, Ruffin said, adding that while Grenoble has consistently supported the Palestinian people, demonstrations must be peaceful and democratic.

According to Butch, protesters shouted insults and threw objects, including glass bottles that shattered near her DJ console. In a video statement posted to social media on Monday, she said she had been frightened and described the attack as the next stage in a campaign that, she said, had sought for months to exclude her from artistic and public life. She added that legal complaints had been prepared and she vowed: I will return to the stage.

Far-left pro-Palestinian activists organize against Barbara Butch

The attack on Butch came after pro-Palestinian activists called to boycott or cancel her appearance, citing her support for legislation widely viewed as pro-Israel and her travel to Tel Aviv.

A leader of the effort was Allan Brunson, the Grenoble chair of the far-left party France Unbowed, which has a pro-Palestinian platform. After politicians from other parties called for him to be sanctioned over his calls, Brunon tweeted ahead of the concert, What a pleasure it would be for me to be sanctioned for calling on activists supportive of the Palestinian people to organize against the arrival of B. Butch.

After its disruption, he posted a video of pro-Palestinian activists rallying in Grenoble and said he would next take aim at the city's formal relationship with the Israeli city of Rehovot.

The legislation, known as Yadan after the French lawmaker, Caroline Yadan, who proposed it in 2024, aimed to combat new forms of antisemitism by expanding terrorism-related offenses and criminalizing calls for the destruction of a state recognized by France - a provision widely understood to be aimed at calls for Israel's destruction, although the bill did not explicitly name Israel.

Supporters argued the legislation was a necessary response to the rising antisemitism following Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Critics said the bill risked restricting freedom of expression by blurring the line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

The proposal divided public opinion and the bill was withdrawn in April, a month after a group of artists signed a March 2026 essay in Le Point supporting it. Butch, who has cited her participation in the French Jewish scouting movement as formative, was among the signatories.

Following the Grenoble incident, Butch and her lawyer, Audrey Msellati, co-authored an op-ed in Le Monde arguing that the protest had crossed the line from political disagreement into intimidation and violence - the one separating protest from coercion, disagreement from intimidation, speech from violence. We were no longer responding to an artist: we were chasing her off the stage.

They wrote that while people are free to criticize an artist or disagree with Butch's views, one cannot organize her disappearance, arguing that campaigns to pressure venues into canceling performances threaten artistic freedom and democratic principles.

Yonathan Arfi, the president of CRIF, France's communal Jewish body, said in a statement that the demonstration against Butch is part of a worrying pattern, which he attributed to France Unbowed, of intimidation of Jewish artists that he said was turning cultural stages into political tribunals. He called on the French government to urgently create a plan to combat boycotts in the arts.

The European Jewish Congress, too, expressed support for Butch, saying, We stand in full solidarity with Barbara Butch. No one should be intimidated, threatened or targeted for being Jewish or for speaking out against antisemitism.

The Union of French Jewish Students, along with a handful of other liberal Jewish groups, rallied near France Unbowed's Paris headquarters on Monday in support of Butch. Brunon has drawn support, on the other hand, from anti-Zionist French Jews who say the Yadan bill represents an exploitation of antisemitism concerns to silence criticism of Israel.

Butch files complaints after receiving death threats, abuse

The Grenoble incident is the latest in a series of controversies involving Butch, who became internationally known after performing in drag during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

She filed criminal complaints after receiving death threats and online abuse after the ceremony. Four men were later convicted in connection with the online harassment campaign against her.

The latest incident has also drawn attention from abroad, eliciting support for her from fellow artists and followers on social media.

One widely shared Instagram post by @YiddishFeminist described Butch as a proud, loud queer Jewish woman who had faced antisemitism, homophobia, and fatphobia.

No one should ever be forced to leave a stage because a hateful crowd resorts to intimidation and violence, the poster said. Today, we are all Barbara Butch.