12 January, 2026, 8:23 am Central - 25°C Rain

Olympic chiefs 'sorry' opening ceremony caused offence

Olympic chiefs 'sorry' opening ceremony caused offence

By Alipate Narawa
29/07/2024
A banquet sequence during the Paris 2024 opening ceremony, which included a depiction of Greek god Dionysus, has been criticised

Olympic Games organisers have said they are "sorry" that scenes in Friday's opening ceremony caused offence.

A banquet sequence featuring drag artists in particular came in for criticism from Christian groups, who felt it parodied Leonardo da Vinci's painting 'The Last Supper'.

That famous 15th Century work depicts a key biblical scene.

The Catholic Church in France was among critics, saying the ceremony featured "scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity".

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

The ceremony's artistic director, Thomas Jolly, said there was no intention to "mock or denigrate anyone" and explained the scene in question was designed to reference pagan gods.

Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters on Sunday that clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group.

She says if people have taken any offence, they, of course are really sorry.

Jolly told French media that the idea was to do a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus.

Source: BBC

Click here more Paris Olympic Stories and Updates here

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