Republican politicians and pundits continue to freak out about a segment of Friday’s Paris Olympics opening ceremonies that featured drag queens. Conservatives jumped on a perceived likeness to Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” attacking the performance as an affront to Christianity.
Rep. Ryan Zinke is the latest GOP elected official to express his outrage.
“Trump is as much of a movement as it is a candidate, because America is not comfortable where we are,” the corrupt former Trump administration official told Fox Business. “We're not comfortable watching the Olympics. Disgusting display, dishonorable. We're not comfortable with the woke.”
Over on sister channel Fox News, a former Trump press secretary was clutching her pearls about the children.
“I talked to a lot of parents who have some very sad kids because they wanted to watch the opening ceremony, and you deprived them of that, France,” said a somber Kayleigh McEnany. “So, well done.”
Thomas Jolly, the French actor who conceived and directed the opening ceremonies, denied accusations that the tableau was inspired by da Vinci’s painting.
“It is Dionysus who arrives at the table,” he told French media in an interview. “The idea was instead to have a grand pagan festival connected to the gods of Olympus, Olympism.”
He added, “The idea was to create a big pagan party in link with the God of Mount Olympus—and you will never find in me, or in my work, any desire of mocking anyone.”
But that didn’t stop Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and self-proclaimed free speech “absolutist,” from claiming, “This was extremely disrespectful to Christians.”
It also didn’t stop Donald Trump Jr. from being triggered. He wrote a rambling screed calling the Olympics opening ceremony “seemingly satanic” and claiming the Olympics were being used to “push woke ideology.”
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson also jumped on the outrage bandwagon.
“Last night’s mockery of the Last Supper was shocking and insulting to Christian people around the world who watched the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games,” he wrote on X.
Delegations arrive at the Trocadero as spectators watch French singer Philippe Katerine performing on a giant screen during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Friday, July 26, 2024.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio resorted to good old-fashioned homophobia, calling the performance a “freak show.” He then reposted a picture of what he deemed so offensive, along with one of his pandering Bible quotes.
More learned people have pointed out that the performance called to mind “Le Festin des Dieux,” or "The Feast of the Gods" by Dutch painter Jan van Bijert.
The Musée Magnin in Dijon, France, which houses the work of art, posted a series of images of the painting to X on Sunday, writing, “Does this painting remind you of anything? ;)”
Others pointed out that similar paintings by Hans Rottenhammer and Jan Brueghel depicting Greek gods portrayed similar things—and had nothing to do with Christianity.
The controversial performance was part of an hourslong opening ceremony that was filled with pomp and circumstance, light and pyrotechnic displays, and music by stars like Celine Dion and Lady Gaga. The spectacle ended with barges and boats carrying each country’s Olympic athletes down the Seine River.
Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps responded to the criticisms during a Sunday news conference.
"Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think (with) Thomas Jolly, we really did try to celebrate community tolerance," Descamps said. "Looking at the result of the polls that we shared, we believe that this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are, of course, really, really sorry.”
Oddly, conservatives like Zinke, Johnson, Don Junior, and Rubio didn’t seem bothered by a performance from French heavy metal band Gojira, which opened with a headless Marie Antionette singing.
To be clear: The Gojira performance was amazing.
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