“This is a video for everyone attending the 2024 Paris Olympics,” one woman said in a video posted on TikTok. She paused, then continued: “Don’t come. Cancel everything.
The video was uploaded in November and has been viewed more than 700,000 times.
Creator Miranda Starcevic is a 31-year-old French-American living in Paris. She usually records herself speaking French, but she believes the message about the Olympics will reach more people if it is conveyed in English.
Ms Starcevich wants her audience to know that from her perspective, French citizens “belong to the middle class”, as she said: “Nobody wants the Olympics. It’s just a hot mess.”
As a visual-first international platform with many young users, TikTok is full of Olympic content. But alongside feel-good windows into athletes’ lives and promotional videos from organizers and sponsors, there are unfiltered clips of Paris residents warning potential visitors that the city may not be at its best during the Games. .
A 24-year-old Parisian student, identified as Leo Nora, posted several short videos about the Paris Olympics, saying it would be “dangerous” and “hell on earth.”
In one of her videos, she tells the camera: “If you’re going to come to Paris for the Olympics, why? Don’t come. Don’t come!” The clip has been viewed more than a million times.
“I’ve lived in Paris all my life,” Leo Nora said in an interview. “I’ve been to big events in Paris. What motivates me to talk about this is that I know how it can go well and how it can go wrong.
She and Ms. Starsevich encourage people to avoid the Olympics for similar reasons. Both said they were unhappy with the city’s requirement that students give up their dormitories so they could be used by workers during the Olympics. Both expressed frustration and fear about traffic.
Organizers and government officials are worried about transport worker strikes during the Olympics as well as more serious problems such as terrorism. Some creators posted about the prevalence of tourist scams in Paris, pickpockets and recent hotel price increases. People on TikTok are also warning of severe crowding on trains.
“It’s not uncommon for people to faint on the subway,” Leonora said. When someone faints, “the line stops, causing delays,” she said.
Tessa Bicard, an executive at a cosmetics company whose TikTok handle is Madame Tartempion, posted a video titled “The Olympics will be a nightmare in Paris.” . It has attracted more than 750,000 views and hundreds of comments.
Ms. Bucard, who is from Northern California and has lived in Paris for more than 12 years, said in an interview that she is actually a big fan of the Olympics.
“I’ve been watching them every year since I was a kid,” she said. “I really love swimming — and certainly women’s gymnastics.” But, she said, “this is the least excited I’ve ever been about an Olympics.”
Mainly, she said, because she didn’t have a ticket. “They’re too expensive or simply unavailable,” she said. She also stressed that various construction projects for the Olympics have caused difficulties in daily life. She fears the expected influx of millions of Olympic visitors will only make matters worse. “My bus route is completely chaotic.”
As an American living in Paris, Ms. Bickard said she often uses her TikTok account to answer questions about the city, in addition to providing interesting tips on how to spot an American in Paris.
Americans ask: “Where’s the best? What’s the best neighborhood? Do you have a favorite restaurant? All these things,” she said. She replied to as many people as she could. “‘I feel like I can trust you because you speak with an American accent,’ which makes sense to a certain extent,” she said.
When it comes to the Olympics, Ms. Bickard’s views are more moderate than those of more outspoken Olympic opponents such as Leo Nora and Ms. Stasevich.
“If you’re coming here to watch the Olympics, hopefully this isn’t your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit Paris,” she said, adding that she expected it would be a logistical challenge. “I thought trying to do something ‘Parisian’ would be very tricky and not enjoyable at all,” she said.
Like Ms Starcevich and Léo Nora and most Paris residents, Ms Bicard said she expected the metro to be “a mess” when the Olympics start. Posters and billboards have been put up across the city to encourage residents to look forward to the Olympics, she said. Many see it as “coded language,” suggesting what many are already thinking: “Leave the city if you can, or if you can afford it.”
Leo Nora, who frequently posts about feminism and race issues on TikTok, is not planning to travel to Paris during the Olympics; her boyfriend lives outside the city and she will be staying with him. “I get anxious in crowds,” she said. “I don’t want to be the one who faints and ruins it for everyone.”
Ms Starcevic, who owns a sustainable online fashion brand, had booked her flight months ago to spend a few days in Biarritz with a friend and a few days in the south of France for the duration of the Olympics Out of town. “I’m lucky enough to be able to go,” she said, “but most people don’t have the privilege that I do.”
Ms. Bickard, however, said she would stay. She plans to bike or walk to work instead of taking the subway. She said she expected one of two things to happen. “Either it’s going to be absolute chaos,” she said, or it’s going to be eerily calm.
Regardless, she shrugged: “Paris is my home. I love it.” She wasn’t as angry as the rest of the city.
“I’m married to a Parisian,” she said, “so I can also say with relative authority that Parisians are not always the easiest people to deal with.”
