Ah, the Paris Olympics! A global stage for athletic prowess, unity, and…drag queens apparently causing a ruckus with the Christian right. The opening ceremony, with its dazzling spectacle of colour and dance, has been accused of mocking Christianity. But let’s unpack this alleged blasphemy, shall we?

During the ceremony, a woman in a shimmering, halo-like headdress took centre stage at a long table, flanked by drag queens. Later, the pièce de résistance: a blue-painted man, nearly naked, emerged from under a giant cloche, surrounded by fruit and breaking into song. A modern Dionysian feast, surely meant to celebrate joy and inclusivity. But no, according to some, this was a “gross mockery” of da Vinci’s The Last Supper.

Enter the brigade of evangelical preachers, Pentecostal pastors, and Catholic prelates from Tasmania to Timbuktu, all mobilising their social media armies to decry this “sacrilege.” Never mind that Thomas Jolly, the ceremony’s artistic director, clearly stated that the performance was inspired by the Greek god Dionysus, not Jesus and his disciples. Facts, it seems, are a minor inconvenience when you’re hell-bent on manufacturing outrage.

“Shocking and insulting to Christian people,” proclaimed Mississippi’s Speaker Mike Johnson, possibly clutching his pearls as he spoke.

One might think that the ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, had personally invited Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and festivities, to crash the party. Oh wait, that’s exactly what he did. Jolly clarified that the sequence was meant to evoke a grand pagan festival, not a sacrilegious parody of da Vinci’s iconic painting. But who needs context when you can have a good old-fashioned moral panic?

And then there’s the heroic stand of C Spire, the Mississippi-based telecommunications provider, which nobly decided to pull its advertisements from Olympics broadcasts. Because nothing says standing up for religious values like a good old-fashioned corporate boycott. Truly, they’ve struck a blow for Christian values everywhere by ensuring their ads won’t sully such a controversial event.

The French Bishops’ Conference chimed in, calling the ceremony “scenes of mockery and derision of Christianity.” Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota echoed this sentiment, calling it a “gross mockery.” Really, if the sight of drag queens can send the faithful into such a tizzy, one shudders to think how they’d react to actual art and historical context.

Art historians like Sasha Grishin from the Australian National University pointed out the visual similarities to The Last Supper, which, to be fair, involves a central figure with a halo and followers on either side. But let’s not get carried away. The performance had 17 drag queens and an absurdly blue man, far from the twelve apostles in da Vinci’s masterpiece. If anything, the drag queens were vogueing, not striking somber apostolic poses.

Jolly’s protestations that the performance had nothing to do with “The Last Supper” fell on deaf ears. “It is Dionysus who arrives at the table,” he explained, perhaps a tad too rationally for the outraged masses. “The idea was to have a grand pagan festival connected to the gods of Olympus, not to mock Christianity.”

It’s absurd and pathetic the way ill-informed and sheep-minded Christians are manipulated by their ‘shepherds’. In India, I’m sure that less than one in a thousand Christians knew about the Opening ceremony, and even fewer actually watched it, but they’re literally hundreds of zombies of all ages happily appending their names to protest memoranda, petitions, and what not!

Louise Marshall, an expert in Renaissance art, noted that to truly mimic The Last Supper, you’d need the apostles in their traditional groups of four, connected through gestures, not dancing and vogueing. And then there’s the fruit. Because, you know, The Last Supper famously featured fruit and a nearly naked, blue-painted man serenading the apostles. Right? No?

But wait, there’s more! The Musée Magnin in Dijon chimed in with a cheeky tweet comparing the scene to “The Feast of the Gods” by Jan van Bijlert, a 17th-century painting featuring Apollo with a halo. Because nothing says divine inspiration like a winking emoji.

The 17th-century painting, The Feast of the Gods, shows a haloed Apollo at the centre of a banquet table. Clearly, the imagery of gods and grand feasts isn’t exactly new, but why let historical context ruin a good outrage?

Thomas Jolly and Anne Descamps, the Paris 2024 spokesperson, were left to apologise for any unintended offense. They reiterated that the performance was meant to be a joyous pagan festival, a nod to Dionysus and the gods of Olympus. But who needs Dionysian revelry when you can have a public outcry?

One can’t help but marvel at the sheer determination of these outraged voices. Here we have an opening ceremony that aimed to celebrate festivity and inclusivity, but no, it’s clearly a nefarious plot to undermine Christian teachings. Who needs joy and diversity when you can have indignation and boycotts?

So here we are, with religious leaders and conservative politicians using every bit of “new world technology” to blow a harmless artistic performance out of proportion. Because nothing says “defender of the faith” quite like a social media crusade against drag queens and blue-painted performers. Truly, we are living in the most enlightened of times!

In the end, this tempest in a teapot will likely blow over, as these things do. The Olympics will continue, medals will be won, and the drag queens will keep on dancing. As for the so-called “mockery” of Christianity? It seems the only thing being mocked here is our collective sense of perspective.

FRANK KRISHNER, COLUMNIST, COMMUNICATOR, MEDIA TRAINER AND HUMAN RIGHTS, LGBT RIGHTS ACTIVIST WROTE THIS OPINION PIECE, AND TAKES FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED HEREIN. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED HERE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE EDITOR AND NEWSNET ONE TEAM.

  Catholic Church, Christian, Media, naked truth, Olympics, Paris