{"id":1796,"date":"2024-07-29T22:11:11","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T22:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=1796"},"modified":"2024-07-29T22:11:11","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T22:11:11","slug":"paris-olympics-organizers-say-they-meant-no-disrespect-with-last-supper-tableau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=1796","title":{"rendered":"Paris Olympics organizers say they meant no disrespect with \u2018Last Supper&#8217; tableau"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"article-subtitle\">Religious conservatives decried the segment but the ceremony\u2019s artistic director says it was meant to celebrate diversity<\/h2>\n<div class=\"article-meta\" data-component=\"articleMeta\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n<p>Paris Olympics organizers apologized Sunday to anyone who was offended by a tableau that evoked Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s \u201cThe Last Supper\u201d during the glamorous opening ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>Da Vinci&#8217;s painting depicts the moment when Jesus Christ declared that an apostle would betray him. The scene during Friday&#8217;s ceremony featured DJ and producer Barbara Butch \u2014 an LGBTQ+ icon \u2014 flanked by drag artists and dancers.<\/p>\n<p>Religious conservatives from around the world decried the segment, with the French Catholic Church\u2019s conference of bishops deploring \u201cscenes of derision\u201d that they said made a mockery of Christianity \u2014 a sentiment echoed by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. The Anglican Communion in Egypt expressed its \u201cdeep regret\u201d Sunday, saying the ceremony could cause the IOC to \u201close its distinctive sporting identity and its humanitarian message.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1797\" src=\"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/18-1-300x169.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/18-1-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/usdailys.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/18-1-768x432.webp 768w, https:\/\/usdailys.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/18-1.webp 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The ceremony\u2019s artistic director Thomas Jolly had said it was meant to celebrate diversity and pay tribute to feasting and French gastronomy. Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps was asked about the outcry during an International Olympic Committee news conference on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClearly 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,\u201d Descamps said. \u201cLooking at the result of the polls that we shared, we believe that this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are, of course, really, really sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Paris2024?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Paris2024<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/OpeningCeremony?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#OpeningCeremony<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FBlQNNUmvV\">pic.twitter.com\/FBlQNNUmvV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Olympic Games (@Olympics) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Olympics\/status\/1816929100532945380?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Jolly explained his intentions to The Associated Press after the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy wish isn\u2019t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock,\u201d Jolly said. \u201cMost of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Le Filip, the recent winner of \u201cDrag Race France,\u201d\u00a0 responded to the criticism of the scene with a touch of humor and sorrow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt feels like the words of somebody who didn\u2019t get on the guest list. We could all be laughing together. It\u2019s sad to me, honestly,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Religious conservatives decried the segment but the ceremony\u2019s artistic director says it was meant to celebrate diversity Paris Olympics organizers apologized Sunday to anyone who was offended by a tableau &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1798,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796\/revisions\/1798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}