Arielle Dombasle's «lamp» dress broke the internet

Last Sunday, Arielle Dombasle delivered a performance in front of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris to celebrate the arrival of the Olympic flame in the heart of the capital. The singer performed her latest track Olympics, a mix of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and electro pop, intended to be an anthem celebrating athletes. Unfortunately for her, her performance did not receive unanimous approval. Videos of her show quickly became the laughing stock of the internet, accompanied by mocking comments: “Arielle Dombasle is the Afida Turner of the bourgeoisie,” “Lady Gaga of the convenience store,” “an embarrassment”... The dancer falling to the ground at the end, the strange remix of Beethoven, the square white wig, the lunar choreography... Many elements contributed to the mockery on social media, but the star of the show was the singer's white dress, which was stuffed with hoops to recall the arches of the Olympic Games. Compared to an “IKEA lamp” or a “dryer vent hose”, the critics were not kind. Immediately, a slew of memes emerged.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a wheeled air conditioner screech” posted the famous Instagrammer Yugnat999. “My tapeworm when I overdo the appetizers”, “I had this IKEA lamp!,” “Even the awkwardness is embarrassed” echoed users in the comments. “Everyone criticized the choice of Aya Nakamura and now I discover they chose Arielle Dombasle for the flame”, lamented a fan. Because, let's remember, the Malian-born singer was supposed to perform Edith Piaf songs at the Olympic Games opening ceremony until racist and sexist criticism quashed that possibility. This led some netizens to question how much public money Arielle Dombasle received for this performance. One X user sarcastically posted, in a post viewed 300,000 times: “When you come home from work and realize part of your taxes or contributions went to pay for Arielle Dombasle's song or dress for the Olympics…”

France continues to be the laughing stock of the internet with all these "Olympic disasters" that never seem to end. The official outfits of the athletes were also mocked, being compared to Aquafresh toothpaste... In any case, as the saying goes, “bad publicity is still publicity”. Clips of Arielle Dombasle's performance have garnered hundreds of thousands of views, and at least now everyone on the internet is aware of her performance. At the age of 71, the singer-actress has managed to go viral and make headlines.