2024-08-04 23:34:29
The Olympic organizing committee has defended the opening ceremony and clarified the controversial scene that sparked a wave of criticism from religious groups.
The opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games which took place last Friday was filled with criticism from the audience, who made reference to certain “offensive” segments throughout the event.
In this context, religious groups and the Catholic Church rejected the performance carried out by the LGBTIQ+ community, accusing the realization of a parody of The Last Supper.
As a result, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games organizing committee has publicly apologized for the opening event. Anne Descamps, spokesperson for the organization, explained that “There was never any intention to disrespect any religious group. The opening ceremony is about celebrating the tolerance of the community.”.
For his part, Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the opening ceremony of the sporting event, clarified that the controversial segment was not related to The Last Supper, but rather sought to imitate one of the pagan feasts of the gods of Olympusparticularly Dionisio. “You will never find in my work the intention to denigrate anything or anyone,” the director emphasized.
The controversial scene that sparked a storm of criticism at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
The controversial scene was starred by a group of drag queens, a transgender model and a singer dressed as Dionisiothe Greek god of wine.
In this context, Thomas Jolly explained: “We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together, we wanted to include everyoneAs simple as that”.
However, the Catholic Church in France did not take the situation in this way and considered that the segment “included moments of mockery and ridicule of Christianity”.
However, the scene would not have referred to this or to Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting, but rather alluded to Jan Harmensz’s Feast of the Gods.