Paris 2024 Olympics: global controversy over 'woke' opening ceremony and its mockery of Christianity

Officially, the Olympic flame is lit, marking the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. However, the symbolic force of a competition that represents the spirit of self-improvement, unity, history and tradition is not taking the spotlight today. Globally, there is outrage over a controversial ceremony of more than four hours marked by the mockery of Christianity, the ode to the 'woke' culture and how far the athletes who were paraded along the Seine River in the first time that an inauguration takes place outdoors outside the Olympic stadiums.

The French organization, which spared no resources, wanted to do something disruptive, presumptuous and different. At times, it definitely succeeded, as there were hours of great spectacle, with Lady Gaga starring in the first musical number and the iconic Céline Dion dazzling the Parisian night in a closing that did take all the applause in the world. But to get to the magnificent closing, the opening ceremony had to sacrifice traditional details that sport lovers like while, in addition, provoked Christians by mocking one of their sacred events.

A not minor detail is that the opening ceremony was held outside any Olympic village. The 206 delegations competing in this edition, which used to be the absolute protagonists of the inaugurations with close-up shots and mini-profiles where the culture of each country is usually transmitted for a few minutes, today were absolutely relegated. All the Olympic delegations, without fail, rose aboard 94 barges along the Seine River and waved the flags of their countries while the cameras focused on them from dozens of meters away. Only with large and prominent zooms could the world's top athletes be seen raising the flags of their countries. A normally powerful image in this type of ceremonies that today was not appreciated during the live broadcast.

However, beyond taking the inauguration outside the Olympic Village, taking the spotlight away from the athletes, a huge part of the inauguration was used to make an ode to the 'woke' culture; with several artists and 'drag queens' models performing a recreation of the Last Supper that caused controversy globally. There was also much criticism because, during the drag dance, there were children present on the main stage. A situation that many found distasteful. 

Marion Maréchal, member of the European Parliament and relative of French conservative leader Marine Le Pen, addressed on social networks the controversy and apologized to the Christian world for the opening ceremony in her country: "To all the Christians of the world who are watching the #Paris2024 ceremony and felt insulted by this drag queen parody of the Last Supper, know that it is not France that is speaking but a left-wing minority ready for any provocation."

The Last Supper is one of the central events in the Christian tradition and represents the last meal that Jesus Christ shared with his twelve apostles before the eventual crucifixion. This historic event is usually commemorated every year on Maundy Thursday during Holy Week.

In the United States and the rest of the world there was also severe criticism of the Olympic opening ceremony.

"The Olympics opens by making a demonic mockery of the Christian faith," wrote Daily Wire host Matt Walsh.

Robby Starbuck, a Cuban-American producer, also weighed in, noting that in France they would never make fun of Islam: "I’m done. I will not support the Olympics in any form. They think it’s okay to mock Christianity. They’d never do this to Islam. As Christians we must draw a hard boundary that we won’t support anything mocking and sexualizes our faith. Christian athletes should speak up now."

Niall Boylan, an Irish presenter, also complained in a viral post: "I'm not religious, but the French depiction of the Last Supper is blatant disrespect and incitement. Jesus is portrayed as a woman and the disciples as transvestites. I wonder why they didn't mock Islam in a similar way. Actually, don’t answer as I know why."

In another post on X, U.S. tycoon Elon Musk, owner of the platform, noted that "Christianity has become toothless" in response to a post where it was claimed that religious zealots of Islam respond with violence to mockery.

Other Christian media, such as Catholic Arena, remarked on an unfortunate fact on the part of the inauguration: eight years ago, on July 26, 2016, French priest Jacques Hamel was beheaded in the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, in Normandy, France, by two terrorists linked to the Islamic State. Precisely today, eight years after his assassination, the ceremony showed images of violent beheadings that made reference to the French Revolution (1789-1799), such as that of Queen Marie-Antoinette, while the band Gojira performed one of the many musical numbers of the event.

In the end, where there was no controversy was when great sports figures, such as Zinedine Zidane, was in charge of carrying the Olympic flame. The iconic French soccer player passed the fire to the historic Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal, who was one of the torch relayers along with great figures of the stature of Serena Williams, Carl Lewis, Amélie Mauresmo, Tony Parker and others.

The event closed in style, with athlete Marie-José Perec and judoka Teddy Riner, both French, jointly lighting the torch.