The 2024 Summer Olympics (or Paris 2024) is currently well underway with (as of writing) 4 countries already sweeping in the gold medals, and, well, it is most definitely not complete without its plethora of quirks and controversies.
Of course, the internet is abuzz with the current events in the Olympics, actively cheering for their country’s athletes, as well as keeping up with the on-the-ground coverage of the actual sports events.
The internet is also quite taken with the many problematic things with the games (cough Israel participating) and the like.
But the thing that stuck out the most these days was not what had happened before (the Seine swimming incident), but what had happened during the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
Well, yes, the iconic Céline Dion did take center stage and some French historical figures reappeared (and died again) for the occasion.
But there was one specific performance that stood out among the rest—for the deeply religious, especially, which made them very, very unhappy.
The Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics included a tableau scene depicting Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous painting, “The Last Supper,” which featured drag queens and French actor and singer Philippe Katerine, who was revealed later to depict the Greek god Dionysus.
Reactions on the Internet were overwhelmingly negative, with people condemning the blatant mockery of the Last Supper, especially with how the 12 apostles were depicted with drag queens, queer personalities, and…a child?
Btw, what the f*ck was all this about? A drag queen mockery of the Last Supper at the Olympics? Would they have mocked any other religion like this? Appalling decision. pic.twitter.com/50uREKJEJd
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 27, 2024
The Paris Olympics have gone FULL BLOWN. SATANIC.
Going so far as to mock the Last Supper of Christ & have a celebration of worship to Baal/Moloch.
If this isn’t a sign of the times we are living in…
Spiritual warfare FULLY manifesting in the flesh.
This isn’t “satanic… pic.twitter.com/jodig46BcE
— The Patriot Voice (@TPV_John) July 26, 2024
The 2024 Paris Olympics has gone full Woke dystopian.
The opening ceremony was filled with transgend*r mockery of the Last Supper, the Golden Calf idol, and even the Pale Horse from the Book of Revelation.
The Olympics has made it clear that Christian viewers aren't welcome. pic.twitter.com/LgawyE6YRX
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) July 26, 2024
This is crazy. Opening your event by replacing Jesus and the disciples at the The Last Supper with men in drag. There are 2.4 billion Christians on earth and apparently the Olympics wanted to declare loudly to all of them, right out of the gate
NOT WELCOME pic.twitter.com/T88AmXbqXL— Clint Russell (@LibertyLockPod) July 26, 2024
Trash.
— Brent A. Williams, MD (@BrentAWilliams2) July 26, 2024
We’re really wondering if this is related to the Olympics and what message or reflection it’s supposed to convey.
— Alex Forbes (@AlexForbesUK) July 26, 2024
Mark it now. This is going to be the lowest rated watched Olympics ever
— Angie G (@MomAngtrades) July 26, 2024
Any comment? pic.twitter.com/NJEHaQkgzy
— Dianora Guicciardini (@dianoraguicc) July 26, 2024
An offense to my eyes.
— Menkui (@Cmplxe) July 26, 2024
I’ve never seen an opening ceremony that families cannot watch together. This was a real shame, and we deserve an apology from your sponsors. We know one will never come from you.
— Franklinbootgirl😀 (@patslaxmom11) July 26, 2024
However, there were some that also praised the performance as it had depicted the “campiness” of the French and their willingness to commit to their French-ness through theatrics.
People also did explainer threads on the matter, especially since Philippe Katherine was later on revealed to represent the Greek god of wine and ecstasy, Dionysus.
Some are angry about the "anti-Christian depiction of the last supper" at the Olympic Opening ceremony. (@elonmusk and @realDonaldTrump among others)
A Dutch art historian explains it's not the last supper but a Dutch painting of the Olympic gods.
And I explain what I loved.
🧵 pic.twitter.com/ZMftlt7dTO— AukeHoekstra (@AukeHoekstra) July 28, 2024
Ohhhhh it’s the Feast of Dionysus, not the Last Supper. Somehow I imagine they’ll remain offended. Not sure why people are so surprised at the flamboyance of the French. pic.twitter.com/htXgAXbolc
— Amanda Kruel 💨🐿🌵 (@skweeds) July 27, 2024
It wasn’t “The Last Supper.”
The blue guy rolling around on the table was supposed to be Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility and wine.
Get a grip. Seriously. pic.twitter.com/wzCJ95Agtb
— BRYAN SCHOTT – “The Evil That Destroys” (@SchottHappens) July 27, 2024
Others, well, went the other way and immediately mocked those offended with the tablaeu by giving them a taste of their own medicine—pointing out the times that mainstream media has depicted “The Last Supper”.
TIMES WHEN CHRISTIANS CARED WHO RECREATED THE LAST SUPPER:
Once… because, drag queensTIMES WHEN THEY COULDN’T HAVE CARED LESS: pic.twitter.com/oxmQRXKFdn
— Dr. Kevin M. Young (@kevinmyoung) July 27, 2024
— Dr. Kevin M. Young (@kevinmyoung) July 27, 2024
Or this: pic.twitter.com/gDuu2GSrpu
— Atsilv 🦅 (@ShadowN8V) July 27, 2024
Christians: "We're offended that the Paris Olympics recreated The Last Supper!"
Also Christians: pic.twitter.com/5MvsgwhkbS
— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) July 27, 2024
Until well, the painting reference was corrected.
Thomas Jolly, the Olympics’ Opening Ceremony Director, in an interview with news channel BFMTV, denied the connection of the performance with da Vinci’s masterpiece, saying:
“It’s not my inspiration and that should be pretty obvious. There’s Dionysus arriving on a table. Why is he there? First and foremost because he is the god of celebration in Greek mythology and the tableau is called ‘Festivity.”
He later on explained that Dionysus was part because he was the god of wine, which “is also one of the jewels of France,” and that he was the father of Séquana, the Seine river’s goddess. “The idea was to depict a big pagan celebration, linked to the gods of Olympus, and thus, the Olympics.”
Beware of misinterpretation! The director of the opening ceremony of the @Paris2024 Games, Thomas Jolly, confirms that this scene was NOT a representation of the Christian Last Supper but a pagan feast, as evidenced by the presence of Dionysus -the Greek god of feasting and wine. pic.twitter.com/F5MYUBZqvz
— Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer (@jeangene_vilmer) July 28, 2024
Thomas Jolly then said that he did not want to “mock or denigrate” anybody, and that he “just wanted to create something that reaffirmed the French values of “Libebrty, Equality, and Fraternity.”
Which is, if you didn’t know, France’s motto.
The Olympic Games’ official account later posted photos of the performance with the caption, “The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings.”
Organizers of the Paris Olympics did apologize to those that were offended, and insisted that the Opening Ceremony did not portray “The Last Supper.”
People then started pointing out that the tableau greatly resembled the 17th Century Dutch painting, “The Feast of the Gods” by Jan Hermansz van Biljert.
The most deranged part is that it wasn't even about The Last Supper. pic.twitter.com/WGteAxe6B1
— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) July 27, 2024
The Olympic ceremony scene was not based on the last supper. It was based on this painting by Jan van Bijlert, “The Feast of the Gods.” pic.twitter.com/BNSAea9JU1
— Eleanor Beardsley (@ElBeardsley) July 29, 2024
https://twitter.com/masonmennenga/status/1817982161355718777
Paris Olympics organizers explained that the controversial opening ceremony performance resembling "The Last Supper" was, in fact, a scene depicting Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, based on 17th century painting The Feast of the Gods. Full story: https://t.co/ZhIAGTeZBU pic.twitter.com/G5VdUEdqq0
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 29, 2024
Why were people (specifically Christians) so quick to throw words such as “satanic” and “barbaric” when their religion is “mocked”, but are also the ones that would make fun of other religions?
And, paired with the fact that they only do this when the people involved are…the LGBTQIA+ community? Or in their eyes, the sinners?
Just look at the amount of homophobic comments that were made after the video of the Opening Ceremony went viral. Quite sad, actually, but not at all surprising, given the kind of world we’re living in.
Even us Filipinos are the same—despite being one of the “gayest” people out there, most of the society still holds deeply homophobic ideas which are connected to their religious faith. Don’t even try denying it; it’s disgusting.
There are, some good people who are intelligent enough to connect the dots on their own and are respectful enough to see both sides of the coin, such as actress Rica Peralejo.
She did say it best in the first part of her Threads post, “…because hello: OLYMPICS. OLYMPIA, GREECE…” and then continued on to say, “and here are the Christians being so outraged and honestly, this makes the Christian faith talaga look unthinking and unreasonable more than ever! 😂 if true talaga this, time na for the Christians to think talaga of how people can believe in us when we keep representing the faith as reactonary.”
And she was absolutely right for that.
If Christians (and/or Catholics) keep presenting themselves as unreasonable, who react at every single thing that isn’t supposed to be about them, then do they actually think? Is their understanding of the world quite limited to what faith and beliefs they believe in?
Does that mean then, that their beliefs are harmful to others because of how they act and react to different situations, and to an extent, to people different from them?
That right there, is a big problem. The real problem behind the “problematic” Olympic Opening Ceremony tableau is not the fact that they represented a painting with queer people, or because they offended religious groups.
It’s the fact that people still can’t distinguish different things without associating it with their beliefs.
Not everything in this world should be that way.
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