Roy Oswalt, a former Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star player who played on the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies, amongst other teams, sounded off on the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, saying that he was appalled by what appeared to be a mockery of Christianity and the Last Supper.
As background, the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris saw what appeared to be a mocking rendition of the Last Supper, the dramatic time when Jesus broke bread and shared wine with his disciples before being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, scourged by Pontius Pilate, and crucified on Calvalry Hill.
The Olympic opening ceremony, which appeared to be based on the famous Da Vinci painting of the Last Supper, saw drag queens and transgender performers reenacting the Last Supper while seated in the same formation, with a young child included among the performers, which many argued was highly inappropriate. Some have since claimed that it was meant to be about Dionysus, the Greek god, not the Last Supper, but many saw the Last Supper similarities as too close for that to be believable.
In addition to the apparent Last Supper mockery, the opening ceremony referenced the book of Revelation, in what appeared to be a mocking display, with a white horseman, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, riding across water with a pyrotechnics display in the background. That rider signifies death, making it all the weirder.
Oswalt, in any case, posted about the matter on X, saying that the ceremony was “insulting” and that he thinks this will be the least-watched Olympics because of it, saying, “Going out on a limb here , but I’m guessing this will be the least watched Olympics in decades with that insulting opening!”
Claiming that it was all meant to be about mythology, not Christianity, one person on X said, in response to Oswalt, “it was not the Last Supper. It was a depiction of an ancient Greek Bacchanal… because, you know, the Olympics are ancient and Greek.A Bacchanalia is an uncontrollably promiscuous, extravagant, and loud party. The parties often spanned several days which honored the god of wine, Bacchus (the blue guy covered in grape vine). He is also known as Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, later known as the god of wine and pleasure.
The same commenter added, “And finally, it was not Death on a pale horse. It was Sequana, Goddess of the Seine, the River in which the boat precession took place. She was meant to be the representation of the Olympic spirit and of Sequana.” However, it is perception of what happened that largely matters, and the perception of many, including Oswalt, is that the ceremony lampooned Christianity in a highly offensive way.
In any case, another commenter said that this has to be hard on the athletes, who have done nothing wrong, saying, “I feel for the athletes. They work their whole lives for these events and to have it shamed this way… just awful. What is wrong with the world? Why do folks have to go out of their way to insult others? What would’ve been wrong with the traditional opening ceremony? You can be inclusive without being offensive.”
Former ‘Full House’ star Candace Cameron Burr also took offense to what she called the “blaspheming parody” witnessed opening night. Take a listen to her here:
Featured image credit: By dbking on Flickr – Originally posted to Flickr as “IMG_1405”, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11788364
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