While inaugurating the Saint-Denis Olympic aquatic center this Thursday, Emmanuel Macron was questioned about the controversy and attacks surrounding the participation of Aya Nakamura in the opening ceremony of the Games. “It has “every place in an opening or closing ceremony,” confirmed the President of the Republic.
Emmanuel Macron added that he wanted the choices of the artistic director of the ceremony to reflect “France in its diversity, in its influence, all its arts and its excellence” arguing that Aya Nakamura is “the most streamed among French-speaking artists and speaks to many of our compatriots.
The possibility of the French-speaking singer participating in the festivities surrounding the Paris Games had aroused indignation from the right and the far right who saw it as a way of “dividing” and “humiliating” the French. He added that the decision on the singer's participation was up to the organizers of the ceremonies and that he was "not the artistic director of the ceremony, nor of the opening ceremony, nor of the ceremony of the Olympic or Paralympic Games ".
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