Olympics opening ceremony art director issues "Sorry, not sorry" to upset weirdos
While acknowledging that his desire was not to "mock or shock," art director Thomas Jolly made it clear: "In France, we have many rights."
Photo: Christian Liewig - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
As if Comic-Con and Ryan Reynolds declaring himself “Marvel Jesus” this weekend weren’t enough, the 2024 Olympics also kicked off with their opening ceremonies last night. You may have heard about it, likely from your most irritating relatives who still post on Facebook, who were not happy with some of the art direction choices that popped up at the Opening Ceremony in Paris. To which, said festivities’ art director has issued a statement today, that could be best summed up as “Sorry, not sorry.”
This is per Deadline, reporting on a statement from Opening Ceremony art director Thomas Jolly, who emphasized that the intention of his show—which included a number of tableaux, including one showing drag queens in an arrangement deliberately reminiscent of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, was not “to be subversive, mock or shock.” But also: “My will is to say we are an immense ‘we.’ In France, we have the right to love each other, as we want, with whoever we want, in France we have the right to believe and not to believe. In France, we have many rights.”
Fairly tasteful, as far as “Fuck off, weirdos” statements go.
The Opening Ceremony, which featured performances from Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, and a number of French celebs, kicked off a wave of backlash from hardcore religious oddballs on social media this weekend. (In case you were wondering why “Baphomet” was trending on Twitter today, it was at least in part because Snoop Dogg wore a goat pendant—you know, G.O.A.T.?—for his part of the proceedings.) Among the loudest voices: Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker (“The Dark Kelce”), who posted a long Bible passage about how “God will not be mocked.” (Which we always assumed was because God was basically immune to petty insecurities, but apparently not!) Butker was in alignment on this position with Piers Morgan, who also complained about the ceremonies, and if you ever need to get a quick gut read on where to stand on an issue, finding yourself on the same side as Morgan means you should probably at least do some reading on the topic.
So far, Da Vinci himself hasn’t weighed in on the controversy, on account of having been retired (from everything) since 1519.