The Paris Olympics opening ceremony — held not in a stadium but along the River Seine in the middle of a summer downpour — was both an audacious, awe-inspiring spectacle and a sloppy, rain-soaked fiasco, full of dazzling highs (Celine Dion on the Eiffel Tower) and avoidable missteps (the out-of-synch Can-Can dancers who barely lifted their legs because they were so afraid of plummeting into the Seine). Whatever one’s cultural or political perspective, there was plenty to quibble with in the event — and especially its coverage on NBC — whether it was the decapitated Marie Antoinettes, the book-nerd threesome, the foggy camera lenses, or the glaring lack of context or insight from the network’s commentators.
But conservatives in the United States — and elsewhere — are upset over a portion of the ceremony that wasn’t even broadcast in its entirety on NBC.
A segment called “Festivity” — the eighth of 12 scenes celebrating aspects of French culture and history — paid tribute to French fashion with an inclusive runway show and party on a footbridge over the Seine, featuring drag queens and a transgender model. At one point in the sequence, several performers posed at the side of the runway, which doubled as a long dining table, in an artfully composed tableau that reminded some viewers of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” the Renaissance masterpiece depicting Jesus Christ and the apostles. Later, in a portion of the sequence that did not air on NBC but was widely shared on social media, French entertainer Philippe Katerine appeared as Dionysus, the Greek god of wine-making, nearly naked, painted blue, and singing on a giant platter of fruit.
The scene sparked outrage from numerous conservative figures in the United States. On X, formerly Twitter, House Speaker Mike Johnson said it was “insulting to Christian people around the world. … The war on our faith and traditional values knows no bounds today. But we know that truth and virtue will always prevail.” Never one to let a culture war skirmish pass her by, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) also weighed in, denouncing the ceremony as “anti-Christian” and “satanic, trans and occult.” Even “Full House” star Candace Cameron Bure gave her two cents — and then some — on Instagram. To “see the opening ceremony completely blaspheme and mock the Christian faith with their interpretation of ‘The Last Supper’ was disgusting,” she said in a video. Donald Trump Jr. also lamented the “woke” Olympics.
A group of Catholic French bishops also joined the chorus of criticism, saying the ceremony “included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deeply deplore.”
Organizers of the event have apologized for any offense the scene may have caused. “There was clearly never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group,” said Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps at a news conference Sunday. “On the contrary, I think we tried to celebrate community, tolerance. We believe this ambition was achieved.” According to a post on X from the official Olympics account, “The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings.”
The performers involved in the controversial scene are not apologizing, however. Barbara Butch, a DJ and producer who has appeared on “Drag Race” in France and was featured at the center of the tableau wearing a halo-like headpiece, said in an Instagram post that “I have never been ashamed of who I am, and I take responsibility for everything — including my artistic choices.” In a statement from her lawyer, Butch said she had been “threatened with death, torture and rape,” and been the target of “anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist and grossophobic insults,” and was filing complaints against her detractors.
Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the opening ceremony, has denied that “The Last Supper” inspired the tableau, or that he intended to belittle anyone’s beliefs. “The idea was to create a big pagan party … you will never find in me, or in my work, any desire of mocking anyone,” he said in an interview with the French broadcast network BFMTV.
Jolly did not elaborate about his inspiration, but some art experts see more similarities with paintings like “The Feast of the Gods,” by Jan van Bijlert.
The conservative outrage also fails to make a distinction between a work of art painted more than 1,400 years after Jesus’ crucifixion — one that is celebrated as much for its brilliant composition and use of perspective as for its religious message — and the New Testament accounts of the final meal Jesus shared with his apostles. And it conveniently overlooks that this mural was created by Da Vinci, a man who many scholars believe was in all likelihood gay or bisexual, and who is believed to have used his longtime lover as a model for his portrait of St. John the Baptist.
As the controversy over naked blue men and French pagans rages on, many of us in America can only wonder, “Hey, why didn’t we get to see the whole thing?”