Former President Donald Trump ripped the Paris Olympics opening ceremony over a controversial performance that critics say made a mockery of the Last Supper and was a slap in the face to Christians around the globe.
Trump was the latest public figure to weigh in on the controversy when he slammed the performance as a “disgrace” during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” on Monday.
“I thought that the opening ceremony was a disgrace, actually,” the Republican presidential nominee said. “I thought it was a disgrace.”
The scene in question featured drag performers and artists lined up at a table on either side of lesbian activist and French DJ Barbara Butch, who was adorned with a halo-like headpiece as the group floated on a boat down the Seine.
The ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, said he drew inspiration from Greek mythology and the Feast of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine who was portrayed by nearly naked singer Philippe Katerine in blue body paint among fruit and flowers — and not the famous biblical story.
“My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor 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.”
But Christians said the resemblance to Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco painting of Jesus’ “Last Supper” with his 12 apostles was uncanny — and offensive.
The French Catholic Church’s conference of bishops quickly chastised the performance.
“This ceremony has unfortunately included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we very deeply deplore,” the Conference of French bishops said in a statement.
Trump said the performance was in bad taste.
“I mean, they can do certain things. I thought it was terrible,” he said. “Look, I’m for everybody. I’m very open-minded… but I thought what they did was a disgrace.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed the Olympic celebration’s controversy was part of the “war” against Christian faith and traditions in remarks Saturday.
“Last night’s mockery of the Last Supper was shocking and insulting to Christian people around the world who watched the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games,” he tweeted. “The war on our faith and traditional values knows no bounds today. But we know that truth and virtue will always prevail.”
The Olympic organizers said they had no intention to disrespect anyone’s religion and apologized to those who took offense Sunday.
“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,” spokesperson Anne Descamps said during a press conference on Sunday.
“Looking at the result of the polls that we shared, we believe that this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are, of course, really, really sorry.”