Paris Olympics Organizers Apologize after Facing Criticism over Parody Mocking The Last Supper

The Paris Olympic 2024 organisers, have apologized to Christians and all other Christian groups, after they garnered criticism for a drag act that allegedly mocked the Last Supper painting, which is sacred to all Christians.

Communications manager for the 2024 Games, Anne Descamps, told the reporters, “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. (The opening ceremony) tried to celebrate community tolerance.”

Spokesperson Descamps said, “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence we are really sorry.”

Artistic director of the Olympics, Thomas Jolly, explained that he had no intention to be impertinent or be subversive.

Earlier, the drag act, with its hypersexualised content during the Olympics ceremony received flak from viewers all over the world. The act also included a child. Viewers were not clear about the message and intent of the parody.

Although the organizers deny that the parody was not about The Last Supper image, the act’s close resemblance to the painting was too strong to ignore. They were seated at the table in the exact angles of the twelve apostles in Da Vinci’s painting. The insensitive drag performance outraged Christians and Christian groups all over the world. The performance was termed blasphemous, disrespectful and insensitive.

“It’s such a shame that an event that used to create so much national pride now creates, at best, indifference. Using the games to push woke ideology has zero to do with anything the games stands for,” said Donald Trump Jr.

Tesla owner, Elon Musk, felt that the parody was extremely disrespectful to Christians.

Meanwhile, the Catholic church in France said it deplored a ceremony that “included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity.”

US based telecommunications and technology company, C Spire, released a statement on X stating that it has taken back its ads for the Olympics.

While many believe that the parody was the depiction of the Last Supper, there are others who say that the performance was not related to ‘The Last Supper.’ It was in fact a depiction of an ancient festival, which dates back to 200 BC, held in honour of Greek God Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility. The organizers said that their goal was to make everyone aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings.

Nonetheless, the controversial parody raises many questions. Was it relevant to depict an age-old festival with hypersexualized content on a public platform, when it should have been a day to celebrate sports and sports personalities?

The Olympics ceremony in Paris should have been an occasion to unite the world, with sports being the unifying theme. Instead, the ceremony left people divided, with the poor execution of one particular performance.