Lies and Liars
It was a Last Supper Parody
Whether you thought it was funny (I didn’t), were offended (I wasn’t), or saw it as a woke statement from director/producers (my guess), it was a Last Supper parody.
Despite the post hoc talk, denial, and obfuscations by the Paris ceremony officials, there are three independent sources that were involved in the actual design and production admitting it was based on the Last Supper picture.
Not clear why they are lying and denying at this point. Clearly they don’t like the backlash. And clearly if it had been a parody of Mohammed, they would’ve been a much worse backlash.
Paris 2024 producers obtained by TheWrap 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.
Similarly, Barbara Butch, a [obese] lesbian who donned a silver aureole halo crown headdress and low-cut dress while portraying the figure of Jesus in the Last Supper sketch, said the opening ceremony was intended to bring people together.According to her Instagram profile, Butch is “a Love activist, Dj and producer based in Paris. My aim is to unite people, gather humans & share love through music for all of Us to dance & make our hearts beat (in unison)! Music sounds better with all of Us!”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.
The French drag queen and rapper known as Piche from the show Drag Race France spoke to French media, saying the intention was to create a tableau of the Last Supper.
“I received a lot of messages of support and people who were very happy that I was there and very surprised that there were drag queens at the opening ceremony,” he said, adding the opposition to the performance indicates that “we’ve succeeded and we’ve done what had to be done, that we’ve been fair and representative”. “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”. “There were no real provocations or anything that was truly obscene. We didn’t make fun of the painting at all…it’s really just because it’s queers and drag queens who use that representation that it bothers,” he said.
https://x.com/optimistcskeptc/status/1817913354343592401?s=46&t=Y4fVsDnz2q8uZ3VNKeco4A