After conservatives claimed the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony was "satanic" for supposedly depicting da Vinci's The Last Supper with drag queens and that the Olympic flag bearer was actually "Death" on a horse, history buffs swiftly called them out.
The opening ceremony included a scene in which a dinner platter was lifted to reveal the mostly nude entertainer Phillipe Katerine singing in French. In the background, dancers and drag queens struck poses along a long table.
As the camera panned through the tableau, it first showed a person crowned with an aureole in front of DJ turntables. The next shot captured the rest of the table, lined with performers holding their poses. The table then transformed into a catwalk, with the drag queens and models taking the stage to pay homage to Paris' fashion scene.
The Olympic Committee later dismissed the blasphemy allegations, explaining that the performance was an interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus intended to highlight “the absurdity of violence between human beings.”
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But conservatives, including Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, who generated controversy earlier this year for a misogynistic and anti-LGBTQ+ commencement speech, were furious.
Butker himself took to X, formerly Twitter, to share a verse from the Epistle to the Galatians, which teaches that Christian believers are justified not by the law but by faith in Jesus Christ:
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting.”
You can see his post below.
Similarly, Donald Trump Jr., who claimed his late mother Ivana Trump was a Czech Olympian, lashed out with the following message:
"Now with the ever predictable ([and] seemingly satanic to me) drag queen opening ceremonies and never ending bs, no one I know even thinks about it beyond maybe watching some highlights."
"It’s such a shame that event that used to create so much national pride now creates, at best, indifference. Using the games to push woke ideology has zero to do with anything the games stands for."
You can see his post below.
Hate influencer Chaya Raichik, best known as the woman behind the anti-LGBTQ+ "Libs of TikTok" social media accounts, also condemned the "sick, satanic, degenerate opening ceremony."
You can see her post below.
Others followed suit with their own homophobic attacks.
Critics, however, were quick to shut all this down with a valuable history lesson, pointing to the Olympic Committee's previous explanation that the performance was a tribute to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre.
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Dionysus was regarded as an outsider, a core aspect of his cult that often emphasized his more rebellious traits. He was frequently referred to as Eleutherios, or "the liberator," because his wine, music, and ecstatic dance allowed his followers to escape self-consciousness and societal constraints.
As the "twice-born" god, Dionysus had transcended the boundary between life and death, and he was often depicted as bridging the gap between the civilized and uncivilized, the known and unknown. He was seen as a deity of chaos and a protector of outcasts.
Vance Nichols, a set designer who works with country music legend Dolly Parton, also made some valuable points in a viral Facebook post:
"It was not the Last Supper. It was a depiction of an ancient Greek Bacchanal… because, you know, the Olympics are ancient and Greek. Surprise!"
"And if you didn’t know, a Bacchanalia is an uncontrollably promiscuous, extravagant, and loud party. The parties often spanned several days which honored the god of wine, Bacchus (the blue guy covered in grape vine). He is also known as Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, later known as the god of wine and pleasure."
Nichols also pointed out that the figure of "Death on a pale horse" the right-wing had gotten so up in arms about was actually Sequana, the goddess associated with the River Seine:
"And finally, it was not Death on a pale horse. It was Sequana, Goddess of the Seine, the River in which the boat precession took place. She was meant to be the representation of the Olympic spirit and of Sequana. If some of you weren’t so busy trying to end the Dept. of Education, you might know this. Loosen the clutch on your pearls."
You can see Nichols' post below.
Sequana was especially revered at the springs at the Seine's source in the valley of the Chatillon Plateau, northwest of Dijon in Burgundy. Depicted standing in a duck boat, with the duck holding a ball in its beak, and wearing a diadem, she stretches out her arms to greet pilgrims visiting her shrine.
The Celts venerated water as a source of life, and for its cleansing and healing properties. Her followers were known as the Sequani by the Romans.
Wikimedia Commons
People were quick to call out conservatives for this too.
Thomas Jolly, the opening ceremony's artistic director, defended the production during a news conference on Saturday when asked about some of the backlash:
“When we want to include everyone and not exclude anyone, questions are raised. Our subject was not to be subversive. We never wanted to be subversive."
"We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that. In France, we have freedom of creation, artistic freedom. We are lucky in France to live in a free country."
"I didn’t have any specific messages that I wanted to deliver. In France, we are republic, we have the right to love whom we want, we have the right not to be worshippers, we have a lot of rights in France, and this is what I wanted to convey.”
And perhaps no statement about the controversy was as succinct as former Illinois Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger. who said the backlash "proves outrage is addictive":
"People desperately searching for reasons to be offended, and it’s destructive to your soul. Take a deep breath and live your life. (This is a reminder to myself as well.)"
You can see his post below.
Knowledge is power, conservatives.
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