Olympic Organizers Sorry for Offending Critics With Drag 'Last Supper' Aimed at Celebrating 'Tolerance'

Olympic organizers apologized Sunday for offending critics with a drag show that appeared to evoke the "Last Supper" during the opening ceremonies, but added that it was intended to celebrate "tolerance."

The presentation Friday featured LGBTQ icon and DJ Barbara Butch surrounded by drag performers. It recreated a version of Leonardo Da Vinci's painting "The Last Supper" of Christ with his apostles before he was betrayed by one of them and crucified.

Or it may have represented the feast of Dionysius.

Social media blew up among conservatives and the religious faithful around the world, including tech mogul Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr., who considered the performance disrespectful and debauched.

The French Catholic Church's conference of bishops attacked the "scenes of derision" that they said made a mockery of Christianity.

Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said at a news conference Sunday that there was "clearly ... never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think [with artistic director] Thomas Jolly we really did try to celebrate community tolerance."

Descamps said that based on the "result of the polls ... we believe that this ambition was achieved."

If "people have taken any offense we are, of course, really, really sorry," she added.

Jolly distanced the production from the Last Supper, emphasizing that it was intended to celebrate diversity and pay tribute to feasting and French gastronomy.

"I did not intend to be subversive, or to mock or to shock," Jolly said. "Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide."

He noted: "In France we are allowed to love who we want, how we want. In France we can believe, or not believe. In France we have lots of rights, and I wanted to convey those values throughout the ceremony."

Supporters pointed out that parodies of the Last Supper have been recreated countless times in art and entertainment.