Yes, Christians are right to be offended by the “Last Supper” scene from the Olympics Opening Ceremony
During last weekend’s Opening Ceremony for the Paris Olympics, there was a scene in which a drag queen danced provocatively down a long table, after which the camera panned back to show what certainly looked like a scene meant to be reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting The Last Supper, though featuring several drag queens and other performers in the place of Jesus and his Disciples. Many Christians on social media criticized the Olympics for mocking Christianity with this portion of the show. Following this outcry, a second controversy arose: whether or not Christians overreacted to the depiction.
The second controversy took on an oddly partisan form, at least here in the United States. I say oddly because there’s not an obvious political angle to this controversy. Still, politically conservative Christians tended to be in the camp that criticized the depiction itself as mockery of Christianity while politically liberal Christians tended to join many politically liberal non-Christians in scolding conservative Christians for taking umbrage in the first place.
My take is that Christians were correct to find the depiction offensive and to say so publicly. But let’s unpack things a little further.
Objection 1: It Wasn’t Even Referencing The Last Supper
It seemed obvious to essentially everyone at the time it aired that this was meant to remind audiences of da Vinci’s painting, but as the dust settled from the incident, this too became part of the controversy, and it doesn’t even seem like the people involved are on the same page about it. Here’s a segment of a piece at Yahoo News:
Many, including Jolly and the official Olympics Games X account, said that the scene is an “interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus” that “makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings.”
Others, including a statement from Paris 2024 producers obtained by TheWrap on Sunday, said that it was in fact inspired by Da Vinci’s famous painting — a skewing of the religious imagery that has been slammed by the Christian right as a mockery of Jesus Christ.
“For the ‘Festivities’ segment, Thomas Jolly took inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting to create the setting,” producers said in the statement. “Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect towards any religious group or belief … [Jolly] is not the first artist to make a reference to what is a world-famous work of art. From Andy Warhol to ‘The Simpsons,’ many have done it before him.”
However, even some of the performers who took part in the scene seem to think it was inspired by The Last Supper. From The Daily Mail:
Now, Hugo Bardin, 33, who won the French version of Drag Race, performs as drag queen Paloma and took part in the performance, criticized the 'absurd and inappropriate' reaction which he attributed to homophobia.
He told Reuters : 'What I find absurd and inappropriate in this controversy is that it's hypocritical... these are paintings that have been reproduced thousands of times. I think the Last Supper is the most reproduced painting in art... this image has been used and reused in a religious context, in a non-religious context.”
Then there’s this from Catholic Herald referencing Barbara Butch, the performer who portrayed the central figure at the table:
Butch posted a screenshot image of her performance in the Last Supper parody above an image of Da Vinci’s original painting to her Instagram account with the comment, “Oh yes! Oh yes! The new gay testament!” The post was subsequently deleted.
And:
The French drag queen and rapper known as Piche from the show Drag Race Francespoke to French media, saying the intention was to create a tableau of the Last Supper.
“Art always divides. As long as it doesn’t move people, it’s not art for me,” he said, arguing that the parody of the Last Supper “is not a provocation” as “it’s a biblical representation that has been reused in pop culture for decades and it’s never really been a problem.”
I do think authorial intent matters here. If the creators of this sequence didn’t intend for it to be a mockery of Christianity or even a reference to Leonardo’s The Last Supper at all, then this is a case of millions of people misunderstanding the performance. That would make the creators guilty of being unclear in their intent, but not guilty of intentionally mocking a revered painting of one of the key moments of Holy Week.
However, it strikes me as very hard to believe that The Last Supper wasn’t the inspiration for at least part of that performance, and even if it wasn’t, many of the people involved seemed to think that it was. Personally, I think all claims that the performance wasn’tinspired by The Last Supper are relying on a half-truth to gaslight critics of the performance. The “blue man” featured in a portion of the performance really does seem to have been based on Dionysus. However, I think it’s abundantly clear that The Last Supper was the inspiration for the now-viral image of the event featuring all of the characters posing at the table.
Objection 2: You Didn’t Complain About Other Cultural References To The Last Supper
Frankly, this objection concedes the point of contention, so it doesn’t do what the critic needs it to do, but for the record, I have never liked pop culture depictions involving fictional characters in place of Jesus and the Disciples evoking the imagery of Leonardo’s The Last Supper. The reason why this particular version got so much attention and outrage is because it was featured during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, making it one of the most-watched events of the year. Millions of people all saw this at once, and millions more saw it soon after on social media. No other similar depiction one might point to would have had nearly the exposure that this one did.
On top of that, this one quite intentionally featured drag queens surrounding a lesbian as the central figure. Of course, as the quotes above make clear, defenders of the depiction are accusing critics of homophobia and drag-phobia. “Homophobia,” despite the fact that it quite literally means fear of homosexuals or homosexuality, has just become a catch-all term of derision for anyone who adheres to a traditional Christian view of human sexuality. As a reminder, Christians believe there is a God who is revealed in the person of Jesus and the testimony of Scripture. He is the creator of all things, including all humans. Just as He had a design for how the various functions of the human body work, He also had a design for human sexuality: that sex should be enjoyed by one man and one woman within the bounds of marriage. Any expression of sex outside of that design is contrary to God’s plan and is therefore what we call “sin.”
That is certainly not a popular position to take in 2024, but it is what Christianity has taught for over two thousand years, and it’s what God revealed to his people Israel thousands of years before. So when you depict one of the key acts of Holy Week by replacing Jesus and the Disciples with gays, lesbians, and drag queens, you’re either trying to be provocative toward Christians, or if not, you must surely know you’re going to be perceived that way.
In this country specifically, there’s been a rise of “drag queen story hour” and “all-ages drag shows.” There’s been a concerted effort to normalize deviant sexual behavior in front of young children, and Christians are right to push back on public drag performances such as during the Olympics and especially when it certainly appears to most people as if it’s being employed in the service of mocking what is Holy.
Objection 3: Why Should We Be Surprised When A Post-Christian World Mocks Christianity?
I’ve seen this one deployed by some Christians as a way to blunt Christian criticism of the Opening Ceremony, but to me, it’s fallacious because I’ve seen no Christian express surprise that this was done. We get that we’re in a post-Christian world that is openly hostile to Christianity and Christian values. Plus, even if a Christian were to be surprised by such a depiction, it doesn’t somehow invalidate their outrage or their expression of their outrage.
Objection 4: We Should Really Be Focusing On Our Own Problems
This one probably bothers me the most. Yes, Christians have our own problems. Christians aren’t perfect people. We’re sinners, just like every other human. That means we make mistakes, even intentionally, that cause us to fall short of God’s expectations for us, and many times those failings even harm other people or push them away from the faith.
But we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We absolutely should be working on our own in-house issues starting with ourselves. But that does not negate our need to defend the faith from outward attack. We shouldn’t say nasty, personal things to anyone associated with this performance or those who defend it. But we should absolutely state publicly that what was done during the Opening Ceremony was wrong and offensive.
There are crimes committed in war, even within the culture war. But the culture war needs to be waged (justly) in an effort to get the kind of culture we want to live in. Not just for ourselves, but because we feel like a Christian culture (or at least a Christian-friendly culture) is better for everyone. To that end, it’s good when corporations and giant entities like the Olympic Games hear our feedback and change course when they’ve done wrong. Christian push-back has already gotten the Games to apologize, and could hopefully make future Games organizers less likely to do something similar. That has real, tangible value.