An organizer of the Paris Olympics said that the drag performance during Friday’s opening ceremony was a nod to Greek mythology, not the Last Supper.
Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for the ceremony, told French news channel BFM TV on Sunday that the inspiration for that scene was the Greek god Dionysus, according to NBC’s “Today.” His comments come after the opening ceremony included a scene that some said looked like Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper.
“There is Dionysus who arrives on this table. He is there because he is the god of celebration in Greek mythology,” Jolly said, according to NBC. “The idea was to have a pagan celebration connected to the gods of Olympus. You will never find in me a desire to mock and denigrate anyone.”
The opening ceremonies on Friday included a group of performers, some of them in drag, in a scene that some said resembled da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper. It featured someone painted blue sitting on a table surrounded by fruit, while dancers and other performers struck poses in the background.
One of the performers in the middle was crowned with an aureole.
The official Olympics account also posted photos of the ceremony on the social media platform X, again suggesting it was a reference to Dionysus.
“The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings,” the post states.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was among those who criticized the performance, saying it was a “mockery of the Last Supper.”
Anne Descamps, a spokesperson for the 2024 Paris Olympics, apologized at a press conference if people took offense to it but emphasized that that was not their intention.
“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think that Thomas Jolly really tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Descamps said at a press conference on Saturday. “We believe that this ambition was achieved.”
“If people have taken any offense, we are of course really sorry,” she added.