The Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony has caused a huge uproar after featuring a provocative reinterpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” with drag queens and a transgender model, set against the River Seine. This bold performance, meant to promote inclusivity and challenge violence, has sparked outrage among Christian groups and conservative politicians worldwide. The Paris organizing committee has issued an apology, claiming no disrespect was intended, but the controversy continues to stir strong reactions from both supporters and critics, making the event a lightning rod for debates on art, religion, and freedom of expression.

The Paris 2024 organizing committee has expressed regret to Catholics and other Christian organizations for upsetting them with a scenario at the opening ceremony that featured drag queens, a transgender model, and a singer dressed as the Greek god of wine, evoking Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of The Last Supper reports the Guardian.

Watch below:

The goal of the Seine River background spoof of the biblical scenario was to interpret Dionysus and bring attention to “the absurdity of violence between human beings,” according to the organizers’ post on X.

The concert incited indignation from Catholics, Christian organizations, and conservative politicians worldwide, forcing the committee to issue an apology.

“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” the Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps told a press conference. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence we are really sorry.”

Although secularism and anti-clericalism have long been traditions in France, the country has a strong Catholic background. Blasphemy is regarded by many as a fundamental component of free expression and is recognized as a lawful offense. The tableau’s proponents applauded its message of tolerance and acceptance.

Deploying a liturgy that “included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity,” the French Catholic church expressed its disapproval.

One of the French bishops’ delegates to the Games, Monsignor Emmanuel Gobilliard, claimed that the controversy’s aftermath had caused sleeplessness in several French competitors.

The most senior Catholic official in Malta and a representative of the Vatican’s influential doctrinal office, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, claimed to have complained about the “gratuitous insult” to France’s ambassador in Valletta.

What was supposed to be a celebration of French culture took an “unexpectedly negative turn, becoming a parade of banal errors, accompanied by trite and predictable ideologies,” according to the Italian bishops’ conference.

“Don’t take us for moralistic bigots, but what’s the point of having to experience every single global event, even a sporting one, as if it were a Gay Pride?” read an article published in Avvenire, a daily Italian newspaper connected to the Catholic church.

The head of Giorgia Meloni’s coalition government’s far-right League party, Matteo Salvini, called the segment “squalid.” “Dear French, it was a really bad start, opening the Olympics by insulting billions of Christians around the world.” he continued.

Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, mentioned the “moral void of the West.”

Commentators claimed that the debate was just another instance of the culture wars of the twenty-first century, fueled by social media and a 24-hour news cycle.

The spectacular opening ceremony’s creative director, Thomas Jolly, stated that he had no aim of subverting religion. “We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that,” he said on Saturday.