Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, known for his Christian faith and outspoken opinions on it and what it means for cultural life in America, sounded off on the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on social media, saying that its apparent, quite shocking mockery of the Last Supper was “crazy.”
As background, the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris saw a mocking rendition of the Last Supper. The lampoon was based on the famous Da Vinci painting of the Last Supper and saw drag queens and transgender performers reenacting the Last Supper while seated in the same formation, with an odd number of young children sprinkled amongst the performers, which many argued was highly inappropriate.
In addition to the 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.
Butker posted a clip of the performance on his Instagram Story and commented on it, saying, “This is crazy.” Continuing, he added something to make the post something other than just depressing and shocking, doing so by adding a verse of Biblical Scripture. He wrote, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked.”
Other Christians and horrified viewers spoke out about the sickening display as well. “I think, folks, what’s interesting here is this deeply secularist, post-modern society knows who its enemy is. They’re naming it. And we should believe them. They’re telling us who they are. We should believe them. But furthermore, we Christians, we Catholics, should not be sheepish. We should resist, we should make our voices heard,” said Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester.
Similarly, In a statement released Saturday, a group of French bishops expressed outrage over “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deeply deplore.” “We thank the members of other religious denominations who have expressed their solidarity,” the statement continued. “This morning, we think of all Christians on all continents who have been hurt by the outrage and provocation of certain scenes.”
Further, in an X post, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta expressed his “distress and great disappointment at the insult to us Christians during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics when a group of drag artists parodied the Last Supper of Jesus.”
Additionally, Speaker of the Houe Mike Johnson said, “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. The war on our faith and traditional values knows no bounds today. But we know that truth and virtue will always prevail.”
Also joining in was telecommunications company C-Spire, which responded to the shocking performance by yanking its advertising of the event within 24 hours of the shocking display. Doing so, it posted on X (formerly Twitter), “We were shocked by the mockery of the Last Supper during the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics. C Spire will be pulling our advertising from the Olympics.”
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