A technology company has abruptly pulled its Olympic advertising after drag queens and dancers performed what appeared to be a parody of “The Last Supper” at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Mississippi-based communications and technology company C Spire announced it was cutting ties with the Olympics on Saturday morning, hours after the show sparked outrage around the world.
“We are shocked by the mockery of The Last Supper during the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games. C Spire will be withdrawing our advertising from the Olympics,” the company said. Posted in X.
CSpire declined to tell The Post what forms of advertising were pulled or how much it paid to be part of the quadrennial global event.
“CSpire supports the athletes who have worked so hard to qualify for the Olympic Games, but we will not participate in the offensive and unacceptable mockery of The Last Supper, which is why we are pulling our advertising from the Olympics,” the company’s president and CEO Susie Hayes said in a statement.
The provocative performance came at the end of an impromptu fashion show just across the Devillis Bridge, with panoramic views of the Eiffel Tower and the Seine.
Three French drag queens and dancers in flamboyant costumes lined up at the base of a long, table-like runway and began the performance with a scene reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”
At the center, a glittering woman in a large silver headdress resembling the halo in paintings of Jesus, smiled and made a heart shape with her hands, performing a choreographed routine as her companions gazed into the camera.
At a press conference on Sunday, opening ceremony artistic director Thomas Joly argued that the work was a symbol of “inclusion.”
“Our theme was not to be disruptive. I didn’t want to be disruptive. I wanted to talk about diversity, and diversity is about being together,” Jolie said. “We wanted to involve everyone. That’s it. In France we have creative freedom, artistic freedom. We are lucky to live in a free country, in France. There was no particular message I wanted to convey. France is a republic, and you have the right to love who you want, you have the right not to be a fetishist, and in France we have many rights. That’s what I wanted to convey.”
Despite the explanation, there was condemnation from religious conservatives.
Marion Maréchal, a Catholic, told X: “To all Christians around the world who watched the #Paris2024 ceremony and felt insulted by this drag queen parody of the Last Supper, know that it is not France that is speaking, but a left-wing minority that responds to any provocation.”
“…because the beheading of a Habsburg and the mockery of a central Christian event are the two first things that come to mind when I think of the #Olympics,” Hungary’s ambassador to the Vatican, Eduard Habsburg, posted on X, also referring to a scene depicting the beheading of Marie Antoinette.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, who did not initially condemn the performance, praised C Spire for pulling the ad.
“I’m proud of how Mississippi’s private sector has taken a firm stand,” he told The Republican in his X-newspaper. “God is not mocked. C. Spier drew the common sense and appropriate line.”
