Tempest in a Teapot
Homophobes are freaking out over the drag queen “The Last Supper” and it’s glorious
By Mira Lazine
July 29, 2024
People have been furious over an allegedly queer interpretation of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper featured at the Olympics, and it’s delightful.
At the Opening Ceremony, a group of drag queens are seen posing in front of a dinner table, allegedly parodying The Last Supper. However, the official Olympics X account disputes this, saying that they’re actually parodying The Feast of Dionysus.
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Disgraced transphobic comedian Rob Schneider said, “I am sorry to say to ALL the world’s GREATEST ATHLETES, I wish you ALL THE BEST, but I cannot watch an Olympics that disrespects Christianity and openly celebrates Satan.”
Additionally, he falsely claimed that a drag queen had their genitals out for children to see.
Guys with their genitalia hanging out in front of children?! Drag Queens?!
I wasn’t sure if I was watching the @Olympics or if I was watching a school board meeting… pic.twitter.com/JpRw4UPqDA— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) July 28, 2024
Hallmark actress Candace Cameron Bure also spoke out on social media in a lengthy seven minute rant that was posted on Instagram. A user posted it on X, and some highlights include her saying, “[To] see the Opening Ceremony completely blaspheme and mock the Christian faith with their interpretation of the Last Supper was disgusting. It made me so sad.”
“Someone said, ‘You shouldn’t be sad, you should be mad about it.’ Trust me, it makes me mad, but I’m more sad because I’m sad for souls.”
She also then encouraged people to not watch the Games.
Jillian Michaels also chimed in, going on in a lengthy X post where she talks about the event being hypocritical and having a lack of understanding.
Any other has-beens want to chime in on this non-controversy? Dave Chappelle? Caitlyn Jenner? Hawk Tuah girl? The floor is yours!
Catholics, Vatican officials react to controversial Olympic ceremony
LGBTQ+ performers posed for what some Christians believe was a mock representation of the Last Supper.
This scene during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, Friday, July 26, 2024, was meant to represent the Greek gods during a banquet, according to organizers. (Video screen grab)
July 29, 2024
By Claire Giangravé
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Catholic leaders along with a host of other Christian groups voiced outrage following the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris (July 26) over a scene starring drag performers and French entertainers that many interpreted as a parody of Jesus’ Last Supper.
Organizers have since apologized for the ceremony, while the creative director of the controversial scene, Thomas Jolly, said the Last Supper was not among his inspirations and that it was meant to represent the Greek gods during a banquet.
The tableau featured artists in drag, representing diverse cultural backgrounds, posed behind a long dining table while a woman wearing an ornate silver halo stood in the middle. Singer and actor Philippe Katerine emerged painted blue on a silver platter and adorned with grapes.
Over the weekend, before Jolly’s clarification, social media was rife with arguments over whether the scene was meant to invoke paintings of the Greek gods gathered at Mount Olympus — such as the 1636 painting “The Feast of the Gods” by Dutch artist Jan van Bijlert or the painting “Feast of the Gods” by Johann Rottenhammer and Jan Brueghel, circa 1600 — or if its true similarity was to Leonardo DaVinci’s famous artistic depiction of Jesus’ Last Supper.
Many Christians worldwide, including Vatican officials, saw the latter and took offense.
Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, one of the Vatican’s top advisers in investigating sexual abuse cases, wrote on X that he had contacted the Maltese embassies to France to express the “distress & the disappointment of many Christians at the gratuitous insult to the Eucharist during the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.”
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who heads the Vatican think-tank on human life and society, also commented on the “derision and the ridicule of the last supper” during the Olympic ceremony on X. “It reveals a profound question: everyone, truly everyone, wants to sit at that table where Jesus gave his life for all and taught love,” he wrote.
The French bishops were among the first to push back against the “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity” in a statement on Saturday (July 27). “We think of all Christians worldwide who were hurt by the excess and provocation of certain scenes,” they wrote, adding that they hope faithful will see beyond “the ideological biases of a few artists.”
Speaking to OSV News, the special Holy See representative to the 2024 Olympic games, Bishop Emmanuel Gobilliard, said he was “deeply hurt” by the images of the opening ceremony. “It is contrary to the Olympic Charter, to the dimension of unity that is present in its values, to the idea of bringing everyone together, without political and religious demonstrations,” he said.
The news outlet of the Italian bishops, Avvenire, commented on the ceremony in several articles and editorials. “Exaggeration excludes,” wrote Editor-in-Chief Luciano Moia, commenting on the scenes on display at the ceremony.
The Middle East Council of Churches, which includes the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, issued a statement “with a lot of love mixed with astonishment and disapproval,” asking the Olympic organizers to commit to its values of respect and friendship.
“Freedom, diversity, and creativity are not compatible with insulting the beliefs of others, nor with mocking them, in ways that have nothing to do with human equality,” the statement read.
RELATED: As Olympics get underway, French Catholics hold prayer vigil for athletes
Many Catholic bishops in the United States pushed back against the controversial representation at the Olympics. Bishop Robert Barron commented in a social media post on the “gross, flippant mockery” in France, a country once described as “the eldest daughter of the church.”
“We Christians, we Catholics, should not be sheepish, we should resist,” Barron, who leads an influential Catholic communications organization, said in the post.
A number of prominent American evangelicals also reacted with outrage over the scene, including Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who called it “a pornographic corruption of Christianity” on X and said “Paris aspires to be the new Babylon, with a drag queen at the center behind the altar.”
Former Olympian and trans woman Caitlyn Jenner said that “as an Olympian and a Christian,” she was outraged and called the scene “a disgusting display of mockery of one of the most Holy and Sacred images of our Christian faith, by the least tolerant demographic in the world, the Radical Rainbow Mafia! SHAMEFUL!
The chair of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis urged believers to fast and pray in preparation for the events in Paris.
The organizers of the Paris 2024 games apologized on Sunday, stating that “clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group” and that the goal was instead to “celebrate community tolerance.”
“We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are really sorry,” the statement added.
LGBTQ+ performers posed for what some Christians believe was a mock representation of the Last Supper.
This scene during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, Friday, July 26, 2024, was meant to represent the Greek gods during a banquet, according to organizers. (Video screen grab)
July 29, 2024
By Claire Giangravé
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Catholic leaders along with a host of other Christian groups voiced outrage following the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris (July 26) over a scene starring drag performers and French entertainers that many interpreted as a parody of Jesus’ Last Supper.
Organizers have since apologized for the ceremony, while the creative director of the controversial scene, Thomas Jolly, said the Last Supper was not among his inspirations and that it was meant to represent the Greek gods during a banquet.
The tableau featured artists in drag, representing diverse cultural backgrounds, posed behind a long dining table while a woman wearing an ornate silver halo stood in the middle. Singer and actor Philippe Katerine emerged painted blue on a silver platter and adorned with grapes.
Over the weekend, before Jolly’s clarification, social media was rife with arguments over whether the scene was meant to invoke paintings of the Greek gods gathered at Mount Olympus — such as the 1636 painting “The Feast of the Gods” by Dutch artist Jan van Bijlert or the painting “Feast of the Gods” by Johann Rottenhammer and Jan Brueghel, circa 1600 — or if its true similarity was to Leonardo DaVinci’s famous artistic depiction of Jesus’ Last Supper.
Many Christians worldwide, including Vatican officials, saw the latter and took offense.
Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, one of the Vatican’s top advisers in investigating sexual abuse cases, wrote on X that he had contacted the Maltese embassies to France to express the “distress & the disappointment of many Christians at the gratuitous insult to the Eucharist during the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.”
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who heads the Vatican think-tank on human life and society, also commented on the “derision and the ridicule of the last supper” during the Olympic ceremony on X. “It reveals a profound question: everyone, truly everyone, wants to sit at that table where Jesus gave his life for all and taught love,” he wrote.
The French bishops were among the first to push back against the “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity” in a statement on Saturday (July 27). “We think of all Christians worldwide who were hurt by the excess and provocation of certain scenes,” they wrote, adding that they hope faithful will see beyond “the ideological biases of a few artists.”
Speaking to OSV News, the special Holy See representative to the 2024 Olympic games, Bishop Emmanuel Gobilliard, said he was “deeply hurt” by the images of the opening ceremony. “It is contrary to the Olympic Charter, to the dimension of unity that is present in its values, to the idea of bringing everyone together, without political and religious demonstrations,” he said.
The news outlet of the Italian bishops, Avvenire, commented on the ceremony in several articles and editorials. “Exaggeration excludes,” wrote Editor-in-Chief Luciano Moia, commenting on the scenes on display at the ceremony.
The Middle East Council of Churches, which includes the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, issued a statement “with a lot of love mixed with astonishment and disapproval,” asking the Olympic organizers to commit to its values of respect and friendship.
“Freedom, diversity, and creativity are not compatible with insulting the beliefs of others, nor with mocking them, in ways that have nothing to do with human equality,” the statement read.
RELATED: As Olympics get underway, French Catholics hold prayer vigil for athletes
Many Catholic bishops in the United States pushed back against the controversial representation at the Olympics. Bishop Robert Barron commented in a social media post on the “gross, flippant mockery” in France, a country once described as “the eldest daughter of the church.”
“We Christians, we Catholics, should not be sheepish, we should resist,” Barron, who leads an influential Catholic communications organization, said in the post.
A number of prominent American evangelicals also reacted with outrage over the scene, including Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who called it “a pornographic corruption of Christianity” on X and said “Paris aspires to be the new Babylon, with a drag queen at the center behind the altar.”
Former Olympian and trans woman Caitlyn Jenner said that “as an Olympian and a Christian,” she was outraged and called the scene “a disgusting display of mockery of one of the most Holy and Sacred images of our Christian faith, by the least tolerant demographic in the world, the Radical Rainbow Mafia! SHAMEFUL!
The chair of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis urged believers to fast and pray in preparation for the events in Paris.
The organizers of the Paris 2024 games apologized on Sunday, stating that “clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group” and that the goal was instead to “celebrate community tolerance.”
“We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are really sorry,” the statement added.
‘The Last Supper’ Olympics controversy and the temptation of outrage
Zac Davis
Zac Davis is an associate editor and the senior director for digital strategy for America. He also co-hosts the podcast, Jesuitical.
@zacdayviszdavis@americamedia.org
Zac Davis
July 29, 2024
AMERICA
AMERICA
THE JESUIT REVIEW
Floriane Issert, a Gendarmerie non-commissioned officer of the National Gendarmerie, rides on a horse while leading volunteers carrying flags of Olympic teams on the Iena Bridge in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP)
I must have missed it live, but when I saw in my social media feed the supposed “Last Supper” display at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, I shrugged, had some vague thoughts about Frenchness and cringe attempts at being avant garde, but I kept scrolling and moved on with my evening.
Turns out, I should have been outraged—so moved at the mocking of my religion that I should have posted about it, prayed and fasted in reparation for the blasphemy, and probably posted about that fasting for good measure.
The church came together, from different ends of both the world and the ideological spectrum, to condemn what they saw as the mocking of an image sacred to Christians for hundreds of years.
The organizers issued an apology, but clarified that they did not intend to depict the Last Supper, but the Greek god Dionysus. Still, the parallels to the Last Supper were hard to miss. But I’m not interested in going down a Da Vinci Coded rabbit hole about whether it was Jesus or Dionysus, whether the organizers or actors intended the parallels, or even asking what specifically people found offensive about the display.
The truth is, I just don’t care all that much about being insulted. I don’t think you should care that much. And I don’t think Jesus cares all that much, either!
But I do care about how we respond. And I think this moment lays out the possibilities of, and problems with, with the church’s approach to evangelization in the 21st century.
From one vantage point, the church is under attack. From this perspective, in an increasingly secular West, our values, lifestyles, beliefs are under attack. The world treats us with contempt. Our religious freedom is threatened. (Don’t worry about paying too much attention to those places where it is severely restricted.) The church is losing power, and we need to do something about it. We need to defend our God and our church.
This point of view is captured succinctly by Elon Musk, who posted on X the night of the opening ceremony: “Unless there is more bravery to stand up for what is fair and right, Christianity will perish.” Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester commented on Musk’s post, saying: “My mentor Cardinal Francis George remarked that the Christian faith can be lost in a single generation, if Christians aren’t vigilant.
I have become increasingly convinced that this defensive posture is a more effective recruitment message for populist politicians than it is for evangelization.
Here’s the thing: In the United States and Europe, it’s true that the world is more secular. I grant that premise. But I don’t think we’ve developed an effective response to that situation.
Pope Francis described this in “Evangelii Gaudium.” “In some places a spiritual ‘desertification’ has evidently come about, as the result of attempts by some societies to build without God or to eliminate their Christian roots.” But he also encourages us, quoting Pope Benedict, to respond to this new terrain not with contempt or righteous defense, but with joy and hope:
“In the desert we rediscover the value of what is essential for living; thus in today’s world there are innumerable signs, often expressed implicitly or negatively, of the thirst for God, for the ultimate meaning of life. And in the desert people of faith are needed who, by the example of their own lives, point out the way to the Promised Land and keep hope alive”. In these situations we are called to be living sources of water from which others can drink. At times, this becomes a heavy cross, but it was from the cross, from his pierced side, that our Lord gave himself to us as a source of living water. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of hope!
The Olympics surely are not without their own set of problems, but the unbridled joy and excitement that billions around the world feel watching the world come together for sports is a moment of cooperation and togetherness that the United Nations could only dream of.
Indeed, Pope Francis posted on X the day the Olympics started, “The authentic Olympic and Paralympic spirit is an antidote against the tragedy of war and a way to put an end to violence. May sport build bridges, break down barriers, and foster peaceful relations.” For a pope who has made it a priority of his pontificate to remind the world that we are “brothers and sisters, all,” the Olympics are an event where the world is more ready than ever to listen to that message.
I am only a casual Olympics viewer at best (I am cheering as loud as I can for LeBron James to lead the U.S. Men’s Basketball team to another gold). And even I managed to find several moments of consolation in the opening ceremony: Celine Dion delivering an incredible comeback performance after suffering a debilitating medical diagnosis; Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi losing his wedding ring in the Seine and posting a beautiful apology to his wife; 100-year-old French Olympian, Charles Coste, helping with the final Olympic torch relay.
People are ready to be moved when they turn on the Olympics—feel-good stories abound! If you seek it out, you will find the church there, ready to offer the Good News.
But there are loud voices drowning out all of that with outrage. Instead of inviting people in, I fear most people will come away from the Olympics viewing us as the church who cried persecution.
I must have missed it live, but when I saw in my social media feed the supposed “Last Supper” display at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, I shrugged, had some vague thoughts about Frenchness and cringe attempts at being avant garde, but I kept scrolling and moved on with my evening.
Turns out, I should have been outraged—so moved at the mocking of my religion that I should have posted about it, prayed and fasted in reparation for the blasphemy, and probably posted about that fasting for good measure.
The church came together, from different ends of both the world and the ideological spectrum, to condemn what they saw as the mocking of an image sacred to Christians for hundreds of years.
The organizers issued an apology, but clarified that they did not intend to depict the Last Supper, but the Greek god Dionysus. Still, the parallels to the Last Supper were hard to miss. But I’m not interested in going down a Da Vinci Coded rabbit hole about whether it was Jesus or Dionysus, whether the organizers or actors intended the parallels, or even asking what specifically people found offensive about the display.
The truth is, I just don’t care all that much about being insulted. I don’t think you should care that much. And I don’t think Jesus cares all that much, either!
But I do care about how we respond. And I think this moment lays out the possibilities of, and problems with, with the church’s approach to evangelization in the 21st century.
From one vantage point, the church is under attack. From this perspective, in an increasingly secular West, our values, lifestyles, beliefs are under attack. The world treats us with contempt. Our religious freedom is threatened. (Don’t worry about paying too much attention to those places where it is severely restricted.) The church is losing power, and we need to do something about it. We need to defend our God and our church.
This point of view is captured succinctly by Elon Musk, who posted on X the night of the opening ceremony: “Unless there is more bravery to stand up for what is fair and right, Christianity will perish.” Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester commented on Musk’s post, saying: “My mentor Cardinal Francis George remarked that the Christian faith can be lost in a single generation, if Christians aren’t vigilant.
I have become increasingly convinced that this defensive posture is a more effective recruitment message for populist politicians than it is for evangelization.
Here’s the thing: In the United States and Europe, it’s true that the world is more secular. I grant that premise. But I don’t think we’ve developed an effective response to that situation.
Pope Francis described this in “Evangelii Gaudium.” “In some places a spiritual ‘desertification’ has evidently come about, as the result of attempts by some societies to build without God or to eliminate their Christian roots.” But he also encourages us, quoting Pope Benedict, to respond to this new terrain not with contempt or righteous defense, but with joy and hope:
“In the desert we rediscover the value of what is essential for living; thus in today’s world there are innumerable signs, often expressed implicitly or negatively, of the thirst for God, for the ultimate meaning of life. And in the desert people of faith are needed who, by the example of their own lives, point out the way to the Promised Land and keep hope alive”. In these situations we are called to be living sources of water from which others can drink. At times, this becomes a heavy cross, but it was from the cross, from his pierced side, that our Lord gave himself to us as a source of living water. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of hope!
The Olympics surely are not without their own set of problems, but the unbridled joy and excitement that billions around the world feel watching the world come together for sports is a moment of cooperation and togetherness that the United Nations could only dream of.
Indeed, Pope Francis posted on X the day the Olympics started, “The authentic Olympic and Paralympic spirit is an antidote against the tragedy of war and a way to put an end to violence. May sport build bridges, break down barriers, and foster peaceful relations.” For a pope who has made it a priority of his pontificate to remind the world that we are “brothers and sisters, all,” the Olympics are an event where the world is more ready than ever to listen to that message.
I am only a casual Olympics viewer at best (I am cheering as loud as I can for LeBron James to lead the U.S. Men’s Basketball team to another gold). And even I managed to find several moments of consolation in the opening ceremony: Celine Dion delivering an incredible comeback performance after suffering a debilitating medical diagnosis; Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi losing his wedding ring in the Seine and posting a beautiful apology to his wife; 100-year-old French Olympian, Charles Coste, helping with the final Olympic torch relay.
People are ready to be moved when they turn on the Olympics—feel-good stories abound! If you seek it out, you will find the church there, ready to offer the Good News.
But there are loud voices drowning out all of that with outrage. Instead of inviting people in, I fear most people will come away from the Olympics viewing us as the church who cried persecution.
Zac Davis is an associate editor and the senior director for digital strategy for America. He also co-hosts the podcast, Jesuitical.
@zacdayviszdavis@americamedia.org
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