“Fragile” Conservative Christian Meltdown Over Olympic Drag Feast

Conservative Christians have been clutching their collective pearls over a sequence in the opening of the Paris Olympic Games that they believe mocked the Biblical last supper.

Friday’s opening ceremony sparked global Christian fury after it included a camp tableau of several drag artists placed behind a large table. Many interpreted this as a blasphemous representation of Christ’s last supper, as immortalised by artist Leonardo da Vinci.

Conservatives saw the moment as confirmation that the “LGBTIQ+ agenda” had infiltrated the Olympic Games, with some even claiming that the event had Satanic overtones.

The Catholic Church in France condemned the opening for including “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity,” with the sequence fuelling widespread anti-LGBTIQ+ mass hysteria from the USA to South Africa.

Politicians and figures like Elon Musk lashed out at the incident, perpetuating the dangerous narrative that Christians are “under threat” and being “persecuted”.

However, a performer painted in blue, representing Dionysus, the Greek God of wine and ecstasy, who was included in the controversial scene, suggested that the organisers did not intend to literally, or only, reference The Last Supper painting.

Speaking to French news network BFMTV, Paris Olympic Games Artistic Director Thomas Jolly stated that The Last Supper was not the primary inspiration behind the sequence but rather “a grand pagan festival connected to the gods of Olympus.” (It’s worth noting that the Olympic Games have their origins in ancient Greece, something that the modern games often allude to.)

Jolly also told The Associated Press, “My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock. Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion, and not at all to divide.”

Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps commented, “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.”

But even if the scene was a nod to the iconic Da Vinci painting, the hysterical response seems out of proportion and indicative of a growing queerphobic intolerance towards drag performers and the broader inclusion of the LGBTIQ+ community. After all, why should drag queens not be included in a creative reinterpretation of the last supper? Who gets to decide that drag is inherently unchristian? 

References to The Last Supper mural abound in art, entertainment, and pop culture, with artists like Andy Warhol and Madonna playing off the painting’s imagery. However, the inclusion of drag queens in this context appears to have been a step too far for many.

American Wesleyan Pastor Rev Benjamin Cremer offered a more nuanced Christian response to the controversy, writing on X: “I just don’t think we Christians realise how fragile we make our faith look when we act as though something like artistic expression represents an existential threat to us.”

He added that, “We have allowed fear and suspicion to overtake our public witness rather than love and understanding.”

 

If you are a Christian claiming “persecution” because French drag queens acted out The Last Supper, but you are simultaneously cheering on the 527 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in legislatures across the US, then you are actually the persecutor.

— Zach W. Lambert (@ZachWLambert) July 27, 2024

I just don’t think we Christians realize how fragile we make our faith look when we act as though something like artistic expression represents an existential threat to us.

We have allowed fear and suspicion to overtake our public witness rather than love and understanding.

— Rev. Benjamin Cremer (@Brcremer) July 28, 2024

Allies who are jumping to “Christians deserve/can handle the insult” please take a half moment before accepting the premise that queer people incorporating “The Last Supper” in a performance is insulting to Christianity.
My visible presence in my religion is not an insult to it. pic.twitter.com/JkQttpv2dS

— Billie (@Billieiswriting) July 27, 2024

The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings. #Paris2024 #OpeningCeremony pic.twitter.com/FBlQNNUmvV

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 26, 2024