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The Paris 2024 opening ceremony’s banquet tableau drew outrage because many viewers saw it as a parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Organizers said it was a scene about Dionysus, inclusion and Greek mythology, not an attack on Christianity. Paris 2024 apologized to viewers who felt insulted but denied any intention to disrespect a religion.
What happened at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony?
On July 26, 2024, the Paris Olympics opening ceremony included a banquet tableau featuring drag performers, a transgender model and singer Philippe Katerine, painted blue and presented as Dionysus. Reuters described the scene as resembling Jesus and the apostles at their last meal; the Guardian reported that it evoked da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Those descriptions capture the resemblance many viewers perceived, but they do not establish that a Last Supper parody was the creators’ stated intent.
The organizers explained the sequence through Dionysus, the Greek god associated with wine and festivity, and the Olympic tradition’s Greek roots. They said it was meant to raise awareness of “the absurdity of violence between human beings.” Artistic director Thomas Jolly described the intended theme this way: “We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that.”
Why did the tableau cause outrage?
Critics saw a religious insult
The banquet’s arrangement led many viewers to compare it with the central group in da Vinci’s painting. For Christians who recognized that reference, the presence of drag performers and a transgender model in a scene they read as the Last Supper could seem like mockery of a sacred image. The French Bishops’ Conference said the ceremony included “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deeply deplore.” Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta called the tableau an “insult to us Christians,” and Bishop Robert Barron described it as “the gross mockery of the Last Supper.”
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Organizers emphasized Dionysus and inclusion
Paris 2024 and Jolly rejected the idea that the scene was intended to disrespect Christianity. Their explanation emphasized Dionysus, diversity and togetherness. The disagreement was therefore not simply over what the ceremony’s creators said they meant: it was also over whether the visual resemblance viewers perceived made the tableau offensive regardless of that stated intent.
Political figures amplified the dispute
The backlash became part of a wider U.S. culture-war argument about religion, drag performance and inclusion. Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and Rob Schneider were among the conservative or Republican-aligned commentators who criticized the tableau. Musk warned, “Unless there is more bravery to stand up for what is fair and right, Christianity will perish.” The available accounts describe these figures as critics; they do not make every one of them a Republican officeholder.
Did the Olympics apologize to Catholics?
Paris 2024 apologized to viewers who felt insulted, while denying that the ceremony was intended as an attack on any religious group. Spokesperson Anne Descamps said, “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group,” adding, “If people have taken any offence we are really sorry.” That was an apology for the offense people experienced, not an admission that organizers had set out to mock Catholics or Christianity.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What happened after the controversy?
The dispute continued online, and criticism escalated into abuse directed at Jolly. In a later Associated Press account, Jolly said, “Critique, that’s my life… but when it involves discrimination, it becomes criminal.” AP reported that he filed a complaint after receiving abuse that included homophobic and antisemitic slurs. The same later report said French authorities had charged seven people over allegations that included death threats, aggravated insults and cyberbullying. Those are allegations and charges reported at that time, not a statement about the case’s present status.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsNational Catholic Register/CNA described the approximate scale of the opening-ceremony spectacle as €1.5 billion. That figure refers to the spectacle’s reported scale, not a separately established cost for the banquet tableau. No transparent primary poll or platform metric is established in the available accounts to quantify how many viewers objected.
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How to understand the competing claims
| Question | Critics’ view | Organizers’ explanation |
|---|---|---|
| What did the banquet resemble? | Many viewers and religious leaders saw a reference to da Vinci’s The Last Supper. | Paris 2024 described the sequence as an interpretation of Dionysus and linked it to Greek roots. |
| Was the scene meant to attack Christianity? | Critics condemned what they understood as mockery of a sacred Christian image. | Paris 2024 denied intent to disrespect any religious group; Jolly said the aim was to include everyone. |
| What did the apology mean? | People who felt insulted received an expression of regret. | The apology did not retract the organizers’ account of the scene’s intended meaning. |
| Where is the line between criticism and harassment? | Religious and political criticism of the performance formed part of the public dispute. | AP’s later account covered a complaint and charges involving alleged threats, insults and cyberbullying; those allegations are distinct from criticism of the artwork. |
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