Amid the ongoing controversy over a tableau of Leonardo da Vinci's “The Last Supper”, composed of drag queens featured in the Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony, the organisers have apologised for hurting public sentiments. At the same time, they have also defended the concept behind it and said that the act was to “celebrate community tolerance.”
There was no intention to show disrespect to any religious group, but to only send the message of community tolerance, said the Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps in a conversation with the Associated Press.
“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think (with) Thomas Jolly, we really did try to celebrate community tolerance,” Descamps told AP.
“Looking at the result of the polls that we shared, we believe that this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence, we are, of course, really, really sorry," Descamps added.
Meanwhile, ceremony artistic director Thomas Jolly had distanced his scene from any “Last Supper” parallels and clarified that the motive behind the act was to celebrate diversity and pay tribute to feasting and French gastronomy.
During the Paris Olympics 2024 Opening ceremony, a tableau of Leonardo Da Vinci's “The Last Supper” consisting of drag queen artistes, including a child, sparked outrage on social media and garnered backlash from political and religious leaders from many parts of the world. Da Vinci's painting portrays the moment Jesus Christ shared his final meal with his apostles before his crucifixion.
The portrayal of the iconic painting at the Paris Olympics has earned massive backlash from people worldwide, including French Catholic Church's conference, Russia, Egypt, etc. The Anglican Communion in Egypt has expressed its “deep regret” on Sunday and also said that the opening ceremony could cause the IOC to lose its distinctive distinctive sporting identity and its humanitarian message.” The opening ceremony also received backlash from Elon Musk and several conservative leaders in America.
