The 2024 Paris Olympics kicked off last Friday, but we didn’t even make it through the first night without controversy.
In case you weren’t one of the nearly 29 million viewers who tuned in to watch the Olympic opening ceremony (or the many millions more who have seen it on the news and social media), here’s what happened:
The outdoor ceremony kicked off with the Parade of Nations, transporting more than 11,000 athletes down the Seine via boat. Lady Gaga performed, along with a host of French musicians. Fireworks in the French national colors above the Austerlitz Bridge dazzled crowds. And Céline Dion took the stage for the first time since being diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome in 2022. But one of the displays during the program caused quite a stir.
It was a tableau, a collection of motionless performers made to represent a scene from a story or history. The piece bore a striking resemblance to Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting Last Supper, which portrays Jesus and his disciples during the eponymous meal.
So what made it so controversial?
The central figure of the Olympic display was Barbara Butch, a French DJ and lesbian activist. Butch appeared in the scene adorned with an aureole—giving the appearance of a crown of light. (Traditionally, aureoles have been used to emphasize the holiness of a person.) Butch was flanked by several other LGBT performers, including a number of drag queens.
To cap off the “performance,” French entertainer (and self-declared exhibitionist) Philippe Katerine was brought out on a platter—painted blue and nearly nude—as a representation of Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, wine and pleasure.
Many Christian and conservative voices denounced the tableau as a mockery of the Last Supper. C Spire, an American telecommunications company, stated on X that they would be pulling their advertising from the Olympics following the display.
Others have argued that the tableau was nodding, not to Last Supper, but another painting: Le Festin des Dieux(The Feast of the Gods) by 17th-century Dutch painter Jan van Bijlert. Le Festin des Dieux portrays a mythological banquet attended by Roman gods.
However, that painting was influenced by earlier classical and Renaissance works including, one might argue, da Vinci’s Last Supper.
Regardless of intent, the question remains— why create a display that most people (art history degree or not) would most readily associate with Last Supper?
At best, it marks a glaring lack of awareness. At worst, it’s a sneering perversion of a central moment in Christianity.
What’s the Message?
Thomas Jolly, creative director for the Olympics opening ceremony, denied any connection to Last Supper and said he didn’t mean for the display to “mock and denigrate anyone,” according to Today. But his stated intent raises concerns of its own. Explaining his thoughts on the display, Jolly said, “The idea was to have a pagan celebration connected to the gods of Olympus.”
If we take Jolly at his word, and the display was not meant to ape Last Supper, its message is still utterly at odds with Christianity.
In 2 Timothy 3:2-5 (ESV), Paul writes: “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (emphasis mine)
Dionysus, like most of the Greek pantheon, is a hedonistic figure, pursuing personal pleasure above all else. France’s Olympic display was meant to exalt a pleasure-seeking, humanist worldview.
Beyond worldview concerns, Katerine’s near-nude appearance as Dionysus was not appropriate for younger viewers (if anyone) tuning in to watch the Olympic kickoff. Katerine said he was “proud” of the performance and that “nudity is really the very origin of the [Olympic] Games.” According to NBC News, Katerine said, “I wanted to get my message across, which goes something like this: ‘If you’re naked, there’s no war because there are no weapons.’”
The Olympic Games’ official X account seemed to echo Katerine’s view, posting, “The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings.”
A muddled message, if the amount of backlash the performance has received is any indication. It’s unfortunate that such a divisive display would sour the start of an (ideally) unifying event like the Olympics.
Making Idols from Olympians
But pagan-inspired ceremonies are not the only things to be aware of when it comes to the Olympics. With each Olympic Games, the current host nation tries to exceed its predecessor, using grand opening ceremonies to celebrate international cooperation, athletic excellence and national pride.
These elements, in and of themselves, are not bad things. Cooperation and understanding among nations can help promote peace. Peak athleticism and intense physical competition can be exciting and inspirational. And having a love of one’s country is an admirable thing—provided, of course, it does not supersede God’s place in our lives.
However, some Olympic opening ceremonies can feel more like humanist worship services than the start of an international athletic contest. Athletes parade forth like conquering heroes. The Olympic flag is raised amid a choir of voices. The celebrations are full of pomp and precision and, at times, reverence.
Reverence for human achievement. Maybe even human ascendance.
This is nothing new. It’s a mistake that harkens back to the earliest days of the Olympic Games. Vrasidas Karalis, professor of modern Greek at the University of Sydney, tells Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen: “for the ancient Greeks, the Olympics were about the elevation of the human to the level of the Divine—a form of deification.”
The error of elevating humanity to divine status is an old one, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Yet we still haven’t gotten past it. God has given humanity vast potential for discovery, invention, and achievement. Athletes inspire us. Opening ceremonies may awe us. But if we find ourselves exalting anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ, we’re missing the point.
Am I saying you shouldn’t enjoy the Olympics? Not at all! I’ll be right there with you, cheering on America’s many incredible athletes. And you can bet I’ll feel a swell of pride when one of those competitors claims the gold and watches as the flag is raised and the anthem played.
But we should be aware that there are worldviews at work that are ignoring the foundation of Jesus Christ—ones that aren’t always as overt as a half-naked blue guy lounging on a serving platter while drag queens pose in the backdrop.
Don’t listen to Katerine or Jolly. Our place isn’t on the altar.
12 Responses
I appreciate your bringing up where this actually stems from (it’s not The Last Supper but the Feast of the Gods painting), but the headline still seems like it’s designed to get clicks rather than set the record straight.
That said, my frank conclusion is that if we have time to complain about what’s basically an art exhibit, we have time to complain about actual problems, such as starvation and poverty, rather than giving a platform to people looking for excuses to act as if Christianity were being persecuted in the western world.
Well said .
nobody thinks an olympic gold medalist becomes a god.
stop saying nonsense
We are back in the Middle Ages with the intolerance and misunderstanding of the church for other (older )cultures and religions. I was always told by my parents that Christianity is good because it is tolerant. Well not in the USA . What a shame.
Now I am censored for a my comment that compares Christianity from the Middle Ages with the present Extreme wing of Christianity under the label of sensivity. You just proved my point by not allowing my comment.
Hi Tineke,
All comments posted to Plugged In remain pending until a moderator approves them. This effort is largely due to spam, though it is also so we can catch any crude language, which we likewise do not allow on our site. Unfortunately, this may take longer than we’d like.
Funny it said my comment WILL NOT be posted.
So a day after my censorship comment ( that was pending) it is all the sudden posted.
Hi Tineke,
To clarify any misunderstanding, everyone’s comments must go through an approval process by a moderator of the site, which is why comments do not immediately appear for any commenter. There was no censorship of your comments nor any ill will towards them – we just did not have anyone available to approve your first comment in the ten-minute timeframe before your second comment accused us of censorship.
In regards to something saying that your comment wouldn’t be posted, I am unsure how you saw such a message. Are you sure you have not misread the section just above our “Leave a Reply” which states that “Your email address will not be published” along with any comment?
Regardless, we apologize if you felt like you weren’t allowed to speak your opinion because of our moderation process.
I watched all four hours of the opening ceremonies and I barely even noticed the display, just a lone weird looking Jesus guy. I had no idea it was supposed to be mocking a famous painting though. For me what left the greatest impression was the Minions, Marie Antoinette, Celine Dion, the opera singer, the person singing Imagine, Snoop Dogg and all the countries traveling in boats down the river Seine. The supposed mockery of a Christian painting either went completely unidentified or the meaning of it flew right over my head. Basically it’s people making a mountain out of a molehill.
I do agree that to act as if it is the end of the Christian faith due to a portrayal by a secular artist is not what a presumed Christian is suppose to do, however, two members of the cast that performed the supposed “feast” admitted it was suppose to be a mirror to the Last Supper, with the cast member in blue with the stars around their head referring to themselves “Olympic Jesus” and the creation of a new testament. When the backlash started to happen as people began to figure out what they were doing, both cast members deleted their posts. So, while the claim of it being a call back to the Greek feast is partially true, so is the Last Supper reference.
I believe we can all agree that the lewd dancing, regardless of who was doing it, was not alright, especially when they had a child cast member so close to an individual dancing as if it were an adult club.
What the Christian should do is pray for the veil to be removed and keep going on spreading the love of Christ through their charity toward others, but always remaining aware of the wickedness that surrounds us. Matthew 10:16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
This display shows that secularism and humanism do not benefit mankind but only degrade it. Disgusting, ugly, and horrid open ceremony this was. The last good opening ceremony that wasn’t worshipping humans to the levels of the divine was the 2008 ceremony in China. Surprising that a communist regime can put on something appropriate and decent without degrading or disrespecting other people’s faith like this one in Paris. Of course they would try to deny it had nothing to do with the Last Supper. They aren’t honest at all.
It was a weird looking display that was hard to understand, so I still don’t get how people were supposed to automatically go from weird display to a mocking of the Christian faith by desecrating a famous painting. It’s all much ado about nothing to me. In other words people are making way too much of this, and should go on to other more pressing things.