Olympics, last queer dinner: the gold of controversy in Paris

Fantastic and brilliant. Or kitschy and blasphemous. Never had an opening ceremony of the Olympics been so talked about in the aftermath as that of the 2024 Olympics. A vibrant and inclusive hymn to love in its intentions, but one that divided the world. Paris used self-irony and chose to go beyond all stereotypes. Even too far, according to the Church of France on the one hand and EU president Viktor Orban on the other.

Not only Emmanuel Macron, who is convinced that the 'French take pride in the spectacle of ceremony', but also the New York Times spoke of the 'creative genius' of the creator Thomas Jolly. Because the four hours of spectacle 'en plein air' had the same effect as the impressionists had in the 19th century: lots of applause, and just as much scandal. Pending definitive figures, the presumed worldwide audience figures are close to one billion viewers. Everyone saw France joking about its rats in the dungeon, about Marie Antoinette with her head detached under her arm, about the Band of the Republic playing and dancing in front of Napoleon's tomb to the French-Malian pop of Aya Nakamura. "We have never had so much fun," said the conductor of the musicians with the plume, pride of France and its military tradition.

The same cannot be said of the Catholic bishops, judging by the unusual note the next day from the French bishops' conference, which speaks of 'wonderful moments of joy' but condemns 'scenes that mock Christianity'. The reference is to the painting of the 'festivity' with a scene reminiscent of Leonardo's Last Supper, but starring the drag queens Paloma and Piche, trans models, and a half-naked Dionysus. It is not known whether this is the scene obscured by Moroccan TV, as 'Le Parisien' points out, quoting internet users in Casablanca. "We are not in a position to say whether there has been TV censorship around the world," the IOC confines itself to saying, however happy with a ceremony that adds another brick to the history of Olympism.

On the attack go Viktor Orban, the French right, Matteo Salvini. The Hungarian president, in his six-month EU presidency, speaks of a 'moral vacuum' in the West for celebrating LGBT+ rights and multi-ethnicity on the night of Paris. The League leader does not mince words, and speaks of 'sleazy Frenchmen'. But even in Paris, the ceremony is an occasion for internal controversy: the gauche speaks of a 'slap in the face of obscurantism', the right of 'shame'.

Unfazed, indeed exultant, Thomas Jolly, the 'creative genius' of the show between the Seine and the Trocadero. 'I didn't want to shock anyone, and I didn't represent anything subversive,' he said taking stock of the evening and responding to criticism. 'In France we have the right to love each other, how we want and with whom we want. And we have the right to believe or not to believe. In France, we have many rights'. And the ideas represented 'are simply Republican ideas'. That is to say, secular and inclusive. Not only that. In an interview with BFM TV, Jolly, regarding the sequence criticised by Catholic bishops, adds: 'The Last Supper was not my inspiration. I think it was quite clear that it was about Dionysus arriving at the table, he is the god of the feast, of wine and father of Sequana, the goddess linked to the river': He adds: 'The idea was a great pagan feast, linked to the gods of Olympus... Olympus, Olympian spirit...'