The right-wing outrage machine must always be kept loaded with fuel, and the Media Research Center is a top fuel depot — and the Olympics generated plenty of fuel. In anticipation of this, the MRC kicked off its coverage of the Paris Olympics, such as it was, with a July 25 “flashback” post by Geoffrey Dickens complaining that “Conservative sports fans checking in on coverage of Team USA at the Paris Olympics might want to brace themselves for unexpected outbursts of liberal preaching from the reporters covering them.”
In addition to promoting inflammatory claims about a female boxer it falsely portrayed as a male, the MRC predictably melted down over various scenes from the Olympics opening ceremony. Dawn Slusher ranted in a July 27 post:
The 2024 Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in Paris was supposed to be an event that drew the world together as one, united with the common goal of celebrating the best athletes on the planet. Instead, it was a highly offensive ceremony filled with satanic and anti-Christian imagery.
From scenes that appeared satanic to moments that could have come straight from The Book of Revelation in the Bible, the creators laughingly claimed the symbols were just rock music, volcanoes, the “Olympic Spirit” or wings of a dove. However, when put all together and added to the outright mockery of Christianity in a disgusting portrayal of The Last Supper with a female DJ Jesus, their excuses weren’t believable in the least.
Near the beginning, a man with angel wings plays the accordion on a bridge above the Seine River where the ceremony took place, already hinting at a Christian theme.
The satanic imagery started during a rock segment as a creepy decapitated Marie Antoinette appears in several windows and chants while a hellish atmosphere with pitchforks, fire, and red colors flash by:
But one scene drew particular offense:
The creators weren’t sly about their true messaging when it came to a runway/fashion show segment on a foot bridge during the “Festive” section of the show, as a group that included drag queens, a female Jesus DJ, and a child (who later walks the runway, as well), portrayed The Last Supper at the opening:
[…]X users also noted a naked, blue man being served on a platter at the supper, and a person who appears to be a transgender woman with a beard singing on the runway, all which weren’t aired on NBC’s broadcasts. (They were apparently aired on European broadcasts.)
Kelly Clarkson gushed about the runway segment, stating, “…that runway, Mike and I, we have been talking about this. Everyone is included at this table. Like, every — it doesn’t matter who you are. They have — represent all ages, all ethnicities, everything is represented on that runway, and I think that’s so important that Paris did that. It’s very cool.”
Her co-host Mike Tirico agreed, saying, “That’s the spirit of this city, isn’t it?” Kelly added it was “inspiring.” No mention of the Christian mockery whatsoever.
[…]As of this writing, #BoycottOlympics, #BoycottTheOlympics, and #BoycottParis2024 were trending on X, with many people outraged by the shocking and offensive displays.
That, of course, is the manufactured outrage that Slusher and the MRC are trying to provoke. In facgt, while it may have looked somewhat like the Da Vinci painting of the Last Supper, it was actually a depiction of a feast involving the Greek god Dionysus (the father of Sequana, the Goddess of the River Seine, down which the athletes traveled down). Slusher said nothing about that, of course.
Tim Grtaham huffed in his July 29 podcast:
Don’t believe people who tried to deny the French producers of the Olympic opening ceremonies didn’t mean to mock a painting of The Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles. “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.” Riiiight.
Next up to push outrage was Sarah Butler, who claimed in a July 30 hate-watch of “the View” that cannot possibly be a depiction of Greek gods because it looked more like Da Vinci and there weren’t any satyrs:
On Monday, ABC’s The View attempted to brush off the religious mockery that happened during the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony in Paris, France on Friday. Following the drag show that seemed to ridicule The Last Supper painting, the hosts aimed towards focusing on the “history” of the Olympics and the athletes themselves.
The segment began with Whoopi Goldberg describing the “instant controversy over an opening number featuring drag performers that some people said was a blasphemous take on Da Vinci’s painting The Last Supper.” She tried to shrug off the religious controversy by explaining that the organizers apologized:
[…]Now, organizers said, we’re sorry, but, you know, the guy who actually put it all together said it was from the Feast of the Gods which is a 17th century Dutch painting of the Greek Olympian gods, you know, the Olympian gods because it’s the Olympics.
Goldberg continued to complain that people need to stop accusing the drag queens of mocking The Last Supper because “they’re not trying to do anything accept talk about the — the history. They’re showing you the history.”
Goldberg’s last astute observation was that it can’t be based off of The Last Supper was because “there are more too many people in the picture for it to be the 12 disciples and then the 7 or 8 other people who are in the picture. It’s just more people.”
But in reality, her suggestions made no sense since the stage set up didn’t resemble Feast of the Gods at all. There is a stronger resemblance to The Last Supper given the actors were all on one side of the table, and there were no satyrs which are centrally featured in Feast of the Gods.
In his writeup of the July 30 White House press briefing, Curtis Houck touted how “EWTN’s Owen Jensen asked if Biden had seen the ugly, anti-Christian depiction of The Last Supper at the opening ceremonies for the 2024 summer Olympics.”
Unsurprisingly, Elise Ehrhard made sure to include this in her Aug. 12 post of “the Worst Woke Moments at the Paris Olympics”:
The awful opening ceremony included, among other things, a drag queen representation of the Last Supper. The grotesque mockery of France’s Catholic heritage then transformed into a bizarre Dionysian feast with a blue Smurf-like man as the center of the meal.
The following night, numerous regions of Paris fell into an unexpected blackout. An area of the city with the stunning Basilica of the Sacred Heart remained lit, creating a beautiful image of the church’s light against the city’s darkness. Many on Twitter saw it as a sign.
Slusher didn’t explain why the opinions of various random people on Twitter are worth mentioning other than that conform with her preconceived biases,