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Organisers apologise after religious groups criticise alleged parody of ‘Last Supper’ during opening ceremony
Delegations arrive at the Trocadero in Paris as spectators watch French singer Philippe Catherine perform on a giant screen during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics on July 26. (Photo: Ludovic Marin/Poole/Reuters)
Organisers of the Paris Olympics have apologised for what some critics called a parody of the Last Supper during a lavish opening ceremony on Friday.
The stage featured drag performers and dancers and was widely criticized by the Catholic Church and Christian groups.
The French Catholic Church said the celebrations “included scenes of mockery and ridicule of Christianity.”
“It was never our intention to show disrespect to any religious group,” Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps said at a press conference on Sunday.
Artists walk along the Passerelle Debilli bridge in Paris during the opening ceremony. (Photo: Wally Scalige/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)
“On the contrary, I think we are trying to celebrate community, tolerance. We believe that this goal has been achieved. If someone was offended, we are, of course, very sorry.”
While the scene has been criticized, the opening ceremony has also received widespread praise, with some users noting that the scene is more reminiscent of other works such as The Feast of the Gods by Johann Rottenhammer and Jan Brueghel.
Thomas Jolly, the director of the opening ceremony, insisted in an interview Sunday with CNN affiliate BFMTV that The Last Supper was not the inspiration behind the scenes.
“Dionysus comes to the table because he is the Greek god of celebration, and this episode is called a ‘festival,'” Jolly said.
“The god of wine, who is also the French pearl and the father of Secouna, the goddess associated with the river Seine. The idea was to create a great pagan festival associated with the god of Olympus, and you will never find in me or in my work any desire to ridicule anyone.”
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