Former President Trump formally condemned the 2024 Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony amid outrage over a performance that many critics stated mocked Leonardo da Vinci’s acclaimed painting “The Last Supper.”
Trump was the latest public figure to comment on the controversy, slamming the performance as a “disgrace” during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” this week.
“I thought that the opening ceremony was a disgrace, actually,” Trump told “The Ingraham Angle” on Monday. “I thought it was a disgrace.”
The opening ceremony included that controversial segment that had French drag queens, appearing to mimic the “Last Supper.”
The scene had those drag performers and artists lined up at a table on either side of lesbian activist and French DJ Barbara Butch.
Donald Trump said if he were at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, which will be held in 2028, and could influence the organizers, there wouldn’t be a portrayal of “The Last Supper.”
“We won’t be having a Last Supper as portrayed the way they portrayed it the other night,” he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
“I mean, they can do certain things. I thought it was terrible,” Trump said. “Look, I’m for everybody. I’m very open-minded, but I thought what they did was a disgrace.”
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Director of Opening Ceremony Gives His Take on Controversial Performance Before Condemnment From Donald Trump
Donald Trump, among others, have had a harsh take on the most controversial performance of the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics. But, how does the director of the event feel about the backlash?
Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony, has formally denied that Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper inspired a performance featuring drag queens.
Jolly told news channel BFMTV over the weekend that the tableau is unrelated to the iconic Renaissance painting depicting Jesus’s last meal with the 12 apostles.
“It’s not my inspiration, and that should be pretty obvious. There’s Dionysus arriving on a table. Why is he there? First and foremost because he is the god of celebration in Greek mythology and the tableau is called ‘Festivity’,” explained Jolly.
“He is also the god of wine, which is also one of the jewels of France, and the father of Séquana, the goddess of the river Seine,” he continued. “The idea was to depict a big pagan celebration, linked to the gods of Olympus, and thus the Olympics.”
Jolly told BFMTV: “You will never find in me, or in my work, a desire to mock or denigrate anyone.
“My aim was to create a ceremony that heals and a ceremony that reconciles, but also a ceremony that reaffirms the values which are those of our Republic of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, and absolutely not to mock anyone.
Jolly added that he hoped his work would not be used to sow seeds of division.
“Given that when we’re together, despite all our differences, we can do big, beautiful, and moving things, that would be a shame,” he said.
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