Paris 2024 organisers apologise for opening ceremony backlash

Olympic Games organisers have issued an apology for any offence caused by scenes in Friday’s opening ceremony.

A particular sequence featuring drag artists drew criticism from Christian groups, who felt it parodied Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic painting, ‘The Last Supper,’ which depicts a significant biblical event.

Among the critics was the Catholic Church in France, which condemned the ceremony for including “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity.”

A US telecommunications company, C Spire, announced it would be pulling its advertising around the Olympic Games after being “shocked by the mockery of the Last Supper during the opening ceremonies.”

Thomas Jolly, the ceremony’s artistic director, clarified that there was no intention to “mock or denigrate anyone,” explaining that the scene was meant to reference pagan gods.

“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group,” Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters on Sunday.

“On the contrary, I think Thomas Jolly did try to intend to celebrate community tolerance. We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence, we of course are really sorry.”

Jolly further explained to French broadcaster BFM: “The idea was to do a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus. You’ll never find in my work any desire to mock or denigrate anyone. I wanted a ceremony that brings people together, that reconciles, but also a ceremony that affirms our Republican values of liberty, equality and fraternity.”

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