Church leaders and some conservative politicians have condemned the performance as a distortion of the Biblical scene of Jesus’ trial and the night before his crucifixion.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, on Saturday called the performance a “mockery.” [that] “It is a shock and an insult to Christians around the world,” said C-Spire, a US telecommunications company, which announced it would withdraw its advertising from the Summer Olympics. The French Catholic Bishops’ Conference also opposed the move.
In the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper, Jesus distributes bread and wine to his disciples and instructs them to eat and drink in honor of him, forming the basis of the central ritual of Christian worship: Communion.
Organizers apologized at the tournament’s daily press conference on Sunday.
“We are clear that we never intended to cause any disrespect to any religious group,” spokeswoman Anne DeCun told reporters. “We are, of course, truly sorry if anyone was offended.”
On Friday, shortly after the performance, the Olympics published a photo of a blue man on an X. “This interpretation of the Greek god Dionysus reminds us of the absurdity of inter-human violence,” the post read.
The piece makes no reference to the Last Supper, and some on social media have argued that the performance depicts a Dionysian feast.
“The idea was to have a big pagan party in honor of the Olympian gods,” Opening Ceremony choreographer Thomas Joly told the Paris-based BFM network on Sunday, according to France 24. “There is no desire to ridicule or belittle anyone in my work.”
However, organizers reportedly confirmed on Sunday that Jolie had “drawn inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting to create the setting.”
“[Jolly] “He is not the first artist to reference a world-famous work of art,” Paris 2024 said in a statement to TheWrap. “Many have done so before him, from Andy Warhol to The Simpsons.”
