Olympic organizers apologize for drag ‘Last Supper’ parody

Organizers of the Paris Olympics apologized for what some described as a mockery of the Last Supper at the games’ opening ceremony on Friday.

The scene featured drag artists and dancers. Barbara Butch, a DJ and producer and a LGBTQ+ icon wore a silver halo as she enlivened the scene at the footbridge across the Seine, as athletes paraded by. The drag artists and dancers flanked her in a skit that likened the  Last Supper as Jesus sat with his twelve disciples.

The Catholic church and Christian groups criticized the depiction and the French Catholic Church called it a “mockery of Christianity.”

Anne Descamps, a spokesperson for the Paris games said, “There was clearly never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group.

“On the contrary, I think we tried to celebrate community, tolerance. We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we’re of course really sorry.”

Thomas Jolly, creative director of the opening ceremony, insisted it was to “celebrate community tolerance.”

Jolly said he saw the moment as a celebration of diversity, and the table on which Butch spun her tunes as a tribute to feasting and French gastronomy– an “interpretation of the Greek God [of wine and festivity] Dionysus.”

“My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock,” Jolly said. “Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.”