The Paris 2024 organisers have apologised to Catholics and other Christian groups angered after a parody of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous The Last Supper painting during the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday night.
A kitsch tableau parodied the iconic painting, recreating the biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his apostles sharing a last meal before crucifixion.
The sketch featured drag queens, a transgender model, a naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine Dionysus, and a child.
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The scene drew dismay from the Catholic Church, with the organisers explaining that the decision was motivated by a desire to achieve “community tolerance”.
But Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini branded the scene insulting and “sleazy”, adding: “Opening the Olympics by insulting billions of Christians across the world was a really bad start.”
“We imagined a ceremony to show our values and our principles so we gave a very committed message,” Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet said. “The idea was to really trigger a reflection. We wanted to have a message as strong as possible.
“Naturally, we had to take into account the international community. Having said that – it is a French ceremony for the French Games – so we trusted our artistic director. We have freedom of expression in France and we wanted to protect it.”
Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps told a press conference: “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. (The opening ceremony) tried to celebrate community tolerance.
“We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence, we are really sorry.”
Paris 2024 artistic director Thomas Jolly was left baffled by the negative reactions to the show.
“Our idea was inclusion,” Mr Jolly said. “Naturally, when we want to include everyone and not exclude anyone questions are raised.
“Our subject was not to be subversive. We never wanted to be subversive.
“We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everybody.
“In France, we have artistic freedom. We are lucky in France to live in a free country.”