The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics has been criticized for an obvious parody of The Final Supper that featured drag queens.
Over a dozen drag queens posed at a desk in a scene paying homage to Leonardo da Vinci's well-known portray depicting Jesus' final meal along with his disciples earlier than his execution.
In the course of the scene, broadcast stay from rain-soaked Paris on Friday night time, drag queens might be seen wriggling suggestively alongside a desk on both aspect of a lady who apparently represents Jesus. He stands immobile within the center, sporting a headdress resembling a halo and holding his fingers within the form of a coronary heart.
The scene sparked backlash on social media and got here beneath explicit hearth as a result of it appeared to include a baby.
Gavin Calver, chief government of the British Evangelical Alliance, mentioned that whereas he hoped the Paris Olympics can be a terrific success, he referred to as the portrayal “utterly insensitive, pointless and offensive”.
“Nonetheless, it was really appalling to see Christianity so brazenly mocked within the opening ceremony with an extremely crude depiction of the Final Supper,” he wrote on X.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who just lately referred to as himself a “cultural Christian,” wrote on X that the efficiency was “extraordinarily disrespectful to Christians,” including in one other submit, “Christianity has turn into toothless.”
Some commentators on social media described the scene as “woke”, whereas others advised that the organizers wouldn’t mock Islam on this method.
US Catholic Bishop Robert Barron referred to as it a “gross mockery of the Final Supper” and questioned why France felt the necessity to “mock this very central second in Christianity” on an event meant to showcase the perfect of the nation's tradition. He went on to say that French tradition “may be very Christian-based.”
“Would they ever dare mock Islam in an analogous method? Would they ever dream of mocking a scene from the Koran on this crude, public method? As I say, everyone knows the reply,” he mentioned in a video posted on X.
Podcaster Reverend Daniel French responded to the bishop's submit by calling on the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to difficulty an analogous assertion.
“The Olympic opening ceremony mocked Christianity and the Final Supper in a method that no different faith would ever do,” he mentioned.
