The Olympic opening ceremony is always a major production. It’s the perfect way for every athlete and the host city to honor these historic games.
However, this year, the ceremony was met with lots of controversy. Most of it stems from the depiction of the Last Supper, but instead of Jesus Christ and his apostles, it had drag queens and a transgender singer dressed as the Greek god of wine and pleasure.
As a Christian, I’m infuriated the Olympics mocked The Last Supper by replacing The Lord and his Apostles with people Jesus would’ve told us to love and respect. pic.twitter.com/NjPl6SOHlw
— Brent Terhune in Washington DC Aug 22-24 (@BrentTerhune) July 27, 2024
Now, after a week of controversy, the Vatican issued a statement on Saturday saying the performance lacked “respect for others.”
“The Holy See was saddened by certain scenes at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games and cannot but join the voices raised in recent days to deplore the offense done to many Christians and believers of other religions,” it said in a press release.
“At a prestigious event where the whole world comes together to share common values, there should be no allusions ridiculing the religious convictions of many people. The freedom of expression, which is clearly not called into question here, is limited by respect for others,” the Vatican continued.
However, many are not convinced by the words of the Vatican.
“Sort of feels like they’re really sad that they have to say this as opposed to being actually angry that it happened. This is hardly a full throated condemnation,” one said.
I wish they had not waited 9 days to issue a response. They have essentially made their voice irrelevant in terms of the current discourse surrounding this issue. they provided the absolute minimum in terms of what is expected from the vatican. Thank goodness the body of Christ…
— Ali (@AliRoland) August 3, 2024
Even though NBC averaged 34.5 million viewers (per Comcast) across the first three days of the Olympics, many feel that this opening ceremony tainted the historic games.
Paris Olympics Ceremony Was Most Viewed Since 2012
Even though it caused lots of drama, this year’s opening ceremony was one of the most watched events of its kind.
NBC Universal has reported that the ceremony captured 28.6 million total viewers. That makes this the most-watched opening ceremony since the 2012 games that took place in London.
There was a 60% increase compared to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and an 8% increase compared to Brazil in 2016.
