The "free" and "accepting" - actually blasphemous, forced and repulsive - opening of the Olympic Games in Paris caused great outrage, so the videos of the ceremony were taken down from the official Olympic websites.
An awful lot of people, organizations and media outlets expressed their displeasure with the drag queens, petites in latex, the prominence of the woke and the various bucks, but many even had a problem with the rain.
The official video of the Paris 2024 opening ceremony appears to have been deleted from the Olympics account as viewer reactions turned increasingly harsh. Social media users shared a screenshot of the organization's recording, showing a blank screen with the words "this video is unavailable"
- noticed the Daily Mail .
Meanwhile, the show is no longer available on their YouTube channel, even though the games were broadcast before and after the ceremony. In contrast, full-length versions of the London 2012, Rio 2016, Beijing 2022 and Nagano 1998 celebrations are still available.
The Paris event was called the "worst ever" and there was outrage that the event was held amid terrible weather.
Among the various artistic tableaus named after French values - liberty, fraternity and equality - the last dinner-style "festivité" - i.e. party - performance caused the greatest controversy. The performance, complete with models, dancers, fashion icons and drag queens from the host nation, took place on a bridge over the capital's river around a table that also functioned as a catwalk, on which the country's most promising young fashion designers presented their clothes.
The performance mocked at the opening of the Olympics turned out to be scandalous
"Mocking Christianity"
Although the hard-to-hear music only disturbed the performance, many young people on social media praised the overall image, which tried to reproduce the atmosphere of a night club.
But others were less than thrilled and accused the organizers of creating a "woke" parody of The Last Supper - Leonardo da Vinci's painting of Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples. The opening ceremony was marred by several blunders, including problems with country names and the Olympic flag being accidentally flown upside down.
Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk, who has come under fire for his conservative beliefs, including against his own son/daughter, wrote on X that the show was "extremely disrespectful to Christians."
Reacting to the event, US Catholic Bishop Robert Barron posted a video online and said:
I love the Olympics, so I turn on the Olympic opening ceremony. And what do I see? It's in Paris, France, a city I love—I spent three years there as a PhD student—and I'm seeing a gross mockery of The Last Supper, and I'm not going to describe it any further.
Later in the show, the most bizarre moment of the evening involved a giant bowl decorated with fake fruit and other food - and a short person resting between them. The man, who was wearing a tight blue form-fitting dress that left little to the imagination, was dressed as Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, feasts and theatre, later revealed to be French actor and singer Phillippe Katerine.
The actor laughed off the criticism and told BFM TV:
It wouldn't be fun if it wasn't controversial. Wouldn't it be boring if everyone on this planet agreed?
"Worst Opening Ever"
Spectators reported bad sound due to the torrential rain, and even joked on the Internet that the organizers should "stop the boats" . Fans online were not thrilled with the unique approach to the opening ceremony, with one writing: “Sorry, but this is the worst Olympic opening ceremony I've ever seen.
It's an interesting idea to bring the athletes in on boats, but it looks pretty cheesy and lacks the roar of the crowd. Sorry, but it's not for me.
Hundreds of thousands of spectators watched as 6,800 athletes wrapped in plastic ponchos tried to keep the spirits up as they made their way down the Seine in a huge fleet of 85 boats.
The performances of Lady Gaga and the approximately 3,000 dancers, acrobats and actors could barely be heard over the sound of the rain, and viewers considered it "the worst Olympic opening ceremony they had ever seen".
The British and foreign press gave the ceremony a mixed reception. The New York Times contemptuously called it "a bloated, televised spectacle" and the New York Post called it "boring, thoughtless and choppy."
Even in France, the reception was subdued, with Le Figaro saying the show was "great, but some elements were pushed too far". Country name blunders, the hoisting of the Olympic flag and bizarre scenes in which the headless Marie Antoinette sang made Friday night's show colorful, but many would have been happier with a duller but more traditional show.
On one occasion, as a long line of boats full of athletes were making their way down the Seine, in an awkward moment the announcers called South Korea North Korea.
The IOC announced in a post published on its official Korean-language X-account:
We sincerely apologize for the error in the presentation of the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony.
The organizers of the opening of the Paris Olympics were contacted by several people for comment, but they did not answer the questions.
Featured Image: Screenshot
