Paris Olympics organizers sorry for Last Supper at Opening Ceremonies

The tableau included a woman in the role of Jesus and drag queens and gay icons as disciples. It was crashed by a man in blue as Dionysus, the Greek god of revelry.

Organizers apologized during the Games’ daily news conference on Sunday.

“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group,” spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters. “If people have taken any offense we are, of course, really, really sorry.”

On Friday, shortly after the performance, the Olympics posted photos of the blue man on X. “The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings,” the post reads.

It doesn’t mention the Last Supper, and some on social media insisted that the performance depicted a Dionysian feast.

“The idea was to do a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus,” Opening Ceremonies choreographer Thomas Jolly told the Paris-based BFM network on Sunday, according to France 24. “You’ll never find in my work any desire to mock or denigrate anyone.”

But organizers reportedly acknowledged Sunday that Jolly “took inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting to create the setting.”

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