A NORM-BREAKING opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics was set under fire after upset French Bishops complained about its alleged mockery of Christianity.
In the opening ceremony choreographed by theatre director Thomas Jolly, pledged that the ceremony intended to celebrate “diversity” and “otherness.” In a press conference last Saturday, he said his intention has not “been to be subversive or to mock, or to shock.”
Jolly made it clear that all he wanted was to send a message of love and a message of inclusion, not at all to divide.
“In France, you have the right to love as you like, who you like. In France, you can believe (in religion) or not believe. In France, we have lots of rights,” he added.
The scene that became filled with criticism focused on a scene where it involved dancers, drag queens, and a DJ posing in a recalled deception of the Last Supper–something that is known to be sacred for many Christians as this serves as a final meal of Jesus with his said apostles.
The segment is said to be intended to promote tolerance of different sexual and gender identities. The scene features French actor Philippe Katerine who’s painted in blue and appears on a silver serving dish.
Katerine’s character is meant to be Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and pleasure who’s also a father of Sequana and the goddess of the River Seine.
Thomas Jolly later denied taking inspiration from the Last Supper in his almost four-hour production.
“The idea was to do a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus,” Jolly told the BFM channel on Sunday. “You’ll never find in my work any desire to mock or denigrate anyone. I wanted a ceremony that brings people together, that reconciles, but also a ceremony that affirms our Republican values of liberty, equality, and fraternity.”
The mixed reactions
With the norm-breaking performance conducted by Thomas Jolly, mixed reactions towards the ceremony were expressed by many people–marking the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside of the main athletics stadium.
In a poll survey group Harris which are commissioned by the Paris 2024 organizers, it shows that 86 percent of the respondents in France had positive view on the ceremony.
One of the notable performance to be remember by many people is the solo performance of Quebec-born singer Celine Dion, who brought the curtain down from the Eiffel tower.
French President Emmanuel Macron also stated last Saturday how the ceremony had “made our compatriots extremely proud.”
Despite the positive feedback from the performance, some conservative critics dismissed it as something to be “woke.”
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the segment a “mockery of sacred story for Christians and a giant gay parade.” Meanwhile, a spokesman for France’s far-right National Rally part, Julien Odoul labelled the ceremony as “a ransacking of French culture.”
French bishops had also came forward to address the issue in the French Bishop’s Conference last Saturday (July 27) stating on how the parade had offered “wonderful moments of beauty, joy, rich emotions, and was universally praised.”
However, they too aren’t pleased with the scene as it include scenes of blasphemy and mockery of Christianity.
Paris apologize
With the controversy making headlines, Paris Olympics organizers apologized last Sunday–saying that they were “really sorry” if any offense was caused by their daring and quirky opening ceremony.
“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group,” Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters last Sunday.
“If people have taken any offense, we are of course really, really sorry,” she added.
