Paris Olympics sponsor pulls out of Games after opening ceremony backlash escalates

A Mississippi-based company has pulled its adverts from the Paris Olympics after being left angry by a scenes in the opening ceremony.

During the catwalk section on the Debilly Bridge, a group of drag queens and dancers gathered around the DJ Barbara Butch, who was wearing a silver headdress that looked like a halo as she got the party going on a footbridge across the river Seine.

Some from the Christian community have since claimed that this scene mocked “The Last Supper”, the moment the Bible claims Jesus revealed that one of his apostles would betray him.

Organisers have denied that the scene had any relation to “The Last Supper”, though this has not stopped anger from the Christian community mounting though, with far-right politician Marion Marechal denouncing the ceremony.

Now, C Spire, an American telecom and tech company, has pulled its ads from this summer’s Games.

C Spire said in a statement: “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.“

While some have been left angry, the ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, has distanced the scene from any Last Supper parallels, instead insisting that the moment affirmed the French values of liberty, equality, and fraternity.

“My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock. Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide. The idea was to do a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus,” Jolly said.

“You’ll never find in my work any desire to mock or denigrate anyone. I wanted a ceremony that brings people together, that reconciles, but also a ceremony that affirms our Republican values of liberty, equality and fraternity.”

The organising committee have also insisted that no disrespect was intended. A spokesperson also argued that the ceremony had actually set out to celebrate tolerance among the French nation, stating: “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think we really did try to celebrate community tolerance. 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.”

The International Olympic Committee, who run the Games, have welcomed the apology from the Paris 2024 committee. They said in a statement: “The IOC has taken note of and welcomes the clarification given by the Paris 2024 Organising Committee regarding the opening ceremony.

“In the daily press briefing, the Organising Committee said there was never any intention to show disrespect towards any religious group or belief. They reiterated that their intention with the Opening Ceremony was always to celebrate community and tolerance. The Organising Committee also said that if anyone was offended by certain scenes, this was completely unintentional and they were sorry.”