One efficiency from the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics has prompted blended reactions.

The four-hour ceremony kicked off the beginning of the Summer time Video games July 26, with athletes gliding down the River Seine and performers reenacting internationally historic moments.

Throughout a controversial tableau, drag queens and dancers lined an extended desk in a picture that some believed resembled Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Final Supper” portrait of Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles.

Following the efficiency, some known as the imagery a “mockery” and “insulting to Christian folks,” whereas others discovered the second a celebration for the LGBTQ+ neighborhood and inclusivity.

On July 28, Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps apologized “if folks have taken any offense.”

“Clearly there was by no means an intention to indicate disrespect to any spiritual group. Quite the opposite, I believe that (creative director) Thomas Jolly actually tried to rejoice neighborhood tolerance,” Descamps mentioned at a press convention. “We consider that this ambition was achieved. If folks have taken any offense, we’re actually sorry.”

Learn on to see why some have in contrast this Olympics opening ceremony efficiency to the “The Final Summer time,” how individuals are reacting and extra.

Why some are connecting the Olympics opening ceremony to ‘The Final Supper’

In a single scene from the opening ceremony, a dinner platter lifted to indicate a primarily nude Katerine singing in French. Within the background, dancers and drag queens struck poses alongside an extended desk.

Panning by the tableau, a digital camera first confirmed an individual topped with an aureole in entrance of DJ turntables. The following shot confirmed the remainder of the desk lined with performers holding their poses.

The desk then reworked right into a catwalk, because the drag queens and fashions took the stage in homage to Paris’ trend scene.

The official X account for the Olympic Video games shared pictures of the second and referenced Dionysus, Greek god of wine-making, fruitfulness and ecstasy.

“The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us conscious of the absurdity of violence between human beings,” read a tweet from the official X account of the Olympics.

However some related the tableau to the biblical scene da Vinci portrayed in “The Final Supper,” when Jesus Christ and his apostles shared a closing meal earlier than the crucifixion.

When requested concerning the backlash July 27, the ceremony’s creative director, Thomas Jolly, mentioned at a press convention that he didn’t intend “to be subversive,” “mock” or “shock.”

“We wished to incorporate everybody, so simple as that,” he mentioned. “In France, we have now freedom of creation, creative freedom. We’re fortunate in France to stay in a free nation. I didn’t have any particular messages that I wished to ship. In France, we’re republic, we have now the correct to like whom we would like, we have now the correct to not be worshippers, we have now a whole lot of rights in France, and that is what I wished to convey.”

Showing on French information channel BFM-TV Sunday, Jolly confirmed “The Final Supper” was “not my inspiration.”

“There’s Dionysus who arrives on this desk. He’s there as a result of he’s the God of celebration in Greek mythology,” Jolly mentioned. “The concept was to have a pagan celebration related to the gods of Olympus. You’ll by no means discover in me a want to mock and denigrate anybody.”

Reactions to Olympics opening ceremony efficiency

Some have been supportive of the creative imaginative and prescient, arguing the tableau was combating to make an announcement on inclusivity.

“We all know within the LGBTQ neighborhood in France we’re removed from what the ceremony confirmed. There’s a lot progress to do in society relating to transgender folks. It’s horrible that to legally change their identification they’re pressured to be on trial,” France’s Inter-LGBT President James Leperlier mentioned, per the AP.

Talking to French newspaper Le Parisien, Katerine mentioned in French that all the ceremony was “shifting” and “grandiose.”

“I used to be pleased with it as a result of it’s my tradition. We’re full of various folks and every individual lives in their very own means and above all has the correct to take action. I liked doing it,” he mentioned. Katerine added that he hoped to get the next message throughout: “If we’re bare, there is no such thing as a struggle as a result of there are not any weapons.”

Le Filip, who gained the third season of “Drag Race France” this yr, instructed AP they have been “amazed.”

“I believed it will be a five-minute drag occasion with queer illustration. I used to be amazed. It began with Girl Gaga, then we had drag queens, an enormous rave, and a fireplace within the sky. It felt like a crowning yet again. I’m proud to see my mates and queer folks on the world stage,” Le Filip mentioned.

Others, together with celebrities, U.S. political figures and Catholic church leaders, expressed outrage on the scene.

Actor Candace Cameron Bure, whose husband is a two-time Olympic medalist, known as the efficiency “disgusting.” 

“(To) see the opening ceremonies fully blaspheme and mock the Christian religion with their interpretation of the Final Supper was disgusting,” she mentioned in an Instagram submit July 28. “It made me so unhappy. And somebody mentioned, ‘You shouldn’t be unhappy. You have to be mad about it.’ And I’m like, ‘Belief me. It makes me mad.’ However I’m extra unhappy, as a result of I’m unhappy for souls.”

Home Speaker Mike Johnson shared a picture July 27 of the scene on X and known as the tableau “stunning” and “insulting.”

Catholic leaders in France known as the scene a “mockery of Christianity” in an announcement, Reuters reported.

“This ceremony has sadly included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we very deeply deplore,” the Convention of French bishops mentioned in an announcement.

Harrison Butker, the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs kicker who gave a controversial graduation speech bearing on contraception, COVID-19 restrictions, ladies’s roles and extra earlier this yr, quoted the Bible on X after the ceremony.

“‘Be not deceived, God just isn’t mocked. For what issues a person shall sow, these additionally shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh additionally shall reap corruption. However he that soweth within the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life eternal,’” he wrote, citing, “Galatians 6:7-8.”