Opinion – Olympics Drag Queen “Last Supper”: A Controversy That Wasn’t
Olympics Drag Queen “Last Supper”: A Controversy That Wasn’t
Some Christians were beside themselves with rage that the Olympic opening ceremony featured a part that people on social media began accusing of being a clear parody of “The Last Supper,” painted by Leonardo DaVinci, one of the most well-known artistic works in the world, depicting Jesus and the twelve apostles sitting down for a last Passover meal together.
Widespread Disapproval Over “Blasphemous” Olympics Performance
Commenters in online forums, and on social media platforms, could be heard to say that the performance at the Olympics was “blasphemous”, with many Christians steamed, fuming that someone should be held responsible.
C Spire, an American IT company out of Mississippi, even canceled its advertising with the Olympics over the performance.
C Spire posted this: “We were shocked by the mockery of the Last Supper during the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics. Spire will be pulling our advertising from the Olympics.”
Authorities including the French Catholic Church’s conference of bishops, the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Egyptian Anglican Communion, and others expressed their disapproval.
Even Mr. Elon Reeve Musk, of Twitter, Space-X, DOGE, and Tesla fame, shared his disapproval on his own platform, formerly known as Twitter, tweeting out this brief, but pointed message:
“This was extremely disrespectful to Christians.”
The Artists Behind the Olympic Opening Ceremony Drag Performance Respond to Criticism
Anne Descamps, the 2024 Paris Olympics spokeswoman, did not actually apologize for the performance as being blasphemous, and some news outlets have not stated such outright, but rather suggested this was the case without providing further detail.
Instead, Ms. Descamps had this to say, “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think [concerning the] Thomas Jolly [drag performance], 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 ceremony’s chief artistic designer, Thomas Jolly, did not feel the need to apologize, stating, “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.”
“We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that,” Mr. Jolly said. “In France, we have freedom of creation, artistic freedom. We are lucky in France to live in a free country. I didn’t have any specific messages that I wanted to deliver. In France, we are republic, we have the right to love whom we want, we have the right not to be worshipers, we have a lot of rights in France, and this is what I wanted to convey.”
French BFM TV Interviews the Designers
Thomas Jolly, Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony director, and Daphné Bürki, stylist and costume director working on the performance, were both invited as guests on the French BFMTV channel’s set Sunday morning.
The opportunity for them to respond to certain criticisms of the show, including those of the leader of France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon was presented, as was the space to provide apologies to offended Christians.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon expressed his concerns about the performance during the interview.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon explained, “I did not like the mockery of the Christian Last Supper. This does not concern everyone. But I ask, ‘What is the point of risking hurting believers?’ Even when you are anticlerical! We were speaking to the world that evening.”
Thomas Jolly responded in such a way as to totally deny the allegations, and a-la-Working-Girl-80s-Film-style, proceeded to explain where each visual element he chose was derived from. Christianity was not one of his sources, according to his account.
“It [(DaVinci’s Last Supper] is not my inspiration . There is Dyonisos [Philippe Katerine, the blue-painted man!] who arrives on this table. He is there because he is the god of the celebration in Greek mythology.
The god of wine who is one of the jewels of France, and the father of Sequana, the goddess who is linked to the river, the Seine.
The idea was to make a pagan festival linked to the gods of Olympus. You will never find in me a desire to mock and denigrate anyone. I wanted to carry out a ceremony which repairs, which reconciles. And also which reaffirms the values of our Republic, liberty-equality-fraternity.
On the other hand, if we use our work to regenerate behind this moment of union against division, hatred while it continues to progress, then that would be a great shame.”
Olympic Drag “Last Supper”: Rapid Social Media Disinformation Spread at Its Worst
While the performance received snowballing widespread condemnation, we must ask whether it’s deserved.
Was this drag performance aimed at ridiculing Christianity, as a few social media accounts first proposed?
The idea gained motion quickly, going viral, as it were, as it rolled out to the edges of social media, penetrating the different online social idea-set scenes.
But, was it true? Or, was this a consequence of the fast-spread of disinformation on social media platforms? And, what role did bias against the LGBTQIA community have in all of this?
Bias against people in the LGBTQ community by those groups and individuals we all already know probably don’t approve of the entire gay visibility and rights movement due to their belief systems?
Elon Musk, for one, is widely considered an anti-trans voice, though he has never indicated that he is anti-LGBT. More specifically, Elon has not expressed that he is “anti-trans,” but rather has stated that he’s against transitioning surgeries and sex-altering hormones for those who are still minors.
Any Resemblance to the Last Supper Is Spurious: An Examination of the Visual Details
For the purposes of this investigation, we shall refer to our accompanying image, which features the drag show scene in question, at two points in time as it unfolded, as well as renaissance master artist Leonardo DaVinci’s “The Last Supper.”
Some of the invective is based on the fact that the woman standing in front of the DJ equipment in the center of the Olympic display had what Christians interpreted as a halo around her head.
Does this look anything like a “halo,” or was it just a weird head dress or crown costuming? (Examine the photos, please!)
Perhaps this was a stylized halo?
Very…stylized? To the point of no longer looking like the empty-center letter “O” or zero “0” halo but simply rather a solid circle with seven rays extending forth?
In fact, while some depictions of Jesus do show a halo around the head, this particular painting by DaVinci does not.
So even if this were to be considered a halo, of sorts, that’s not even relevant, as far as mimicking the details of “The Last Supper” are concerned. How can this be a match if it’s not in the painting that many claim the drag performance references in order to to mock?
And so, we can say it’s a head dress or crown that does resemble a halo, but no specific halo we’ve found, though there’s no halo in the DaVinci work, making this detail irrelevant, for the sake of this discussion.
It has also been suggested by The Marians of the Immaculate Conception, alternatively called the Divine Mercy Marians, that the headpiece worn by the person in the middle represented a monstrance.
A monstrance is defined as follows by Encyclopedia Britannica, “ in the Roman Catholic Church and some other churches, a vessel in which the consecrated eucharistic host (the sacramental bread) is carried in processions and is displayed during certain devotional ceremonies…”
In actual fact there is little more resemblance to a halo than a monstrance. An actual monstrance in actual church is shown in the photograph below. Decide for yourself if this is such a close resemblance.
The Sacred Heart of…Love? How A Mere Hand Symbol Drew Ire
Some wrote about how the drag queen in the center in the blue dress is holding her hands up to make a heart.
How does this resemble Jesus depicted in the painting, seated a the table with outstretched arms and upturned hands, apparently deep in prayer, perhaps reciting the kiddush?
Researching this matter, you’ll discover that Christians do, indeed, have certain hand symbols associated with Jesus. The below image shows these hand gestures. Does this resemble the way people commonly make hearts with their hands in popular culture, as did the woman in the middle of the drag performance at the Olympics? 
Colors and Costumery: No Hint of Jesus or Any Real Supper
The colors were not chosen, nor the costumery, to evoke anything from the famed DaVinci painting. At all. No resemblance, no witty shifts on the color wheel. Nothing.
The decorations do not evoke being within an indoor room, as is the case in the DaVinci painting.
Decor could easily have evoked the illusion of perspective using lights or beads, but those same design elements were instead chosen to be in a pattern that do not connote an indoor room.
Yet another miss, not a match! But wait, there’s more…
Not a single performer is posed as a figure in the DaVinci painting is, at either of the two freeze-frames of the performance I offer accompanying this opinion.
While they did “Strike a Pose,” voguing is still big in France, where LGBTQ people enjoy the decades-old dance form popularized in the then-poor East Village in NYC in the 1980s by gay men.
Again, not a single person is posed similarly to a figure in the painting.
No one is focusing on, or turned toward, the central figure, the DJ, whereas in DaVinci’s painting, this is definitely the case.
I guess it’s fair to say that the person of focus is in the middle of the grouping in both the Olympic performance and DaVinci’s work.
In the Olympic performance, it’s because she’s making the heart hand symbol while no one else is. She’s also the only one wearing a conspicuous headpiece.
In DaVinci’s work, it’s because it’s related to the Christian story of Jesus, the central figure of the Christian canon.
And, every other person focuses on that figure in the painting.
Probably most photographs and paintings, to be fair, also have a central figure. You know. The guy in the middle holding the sign reading, “Company Picnic, Year 2 Post-Covid”?
Is this a match between the Olympic performance and DaVinci’s painting?
C’mon man, be serious! That is no significant match, if we’re being totally honest.
In fact, central to the theme of the DaVinvi Work is the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.
That is, essentially, what is being depicted in the painting, a literal scene from the Christian Bible.
There is no suggestion of anything like that in Thomas Jolly’s performance.
Additionally, they are not at a table, but rather in front of a flat, raised surface.
In the Last Supper, the diners are mostly seated.
At the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, none of the performers were seated, save for a child or adolescent seated on the table at one later point in time.
The 30 (or 35) Apostles? How the Drag Queen Olympic Opening Show Wasn’t What It Seemed
There’s another significant issue, spurned by some major media outlets: The DaVinci painting showed Jesus and the Twelve apostles.
That’s thirteen in all.
The two stop-frames I present from the Olympic celebration depict at least eighteen people.
Some media outlets have zoomed in and therefore clipped off the sides of the image to make it appear that there are, indeed, thirteen people, like the DaVinci work depicts.
A later snapshot of the Olympic drag performance shows at least thirty people, not including the scary Dionysus served on a platter, complete with a dome that rises into the air.
And so, a meal is suggested. A meal…of sorts.
Is this anything like the Passover meal DaVinci sought to capture?
The meal is…a blue man of huge proportions, surrounded by what appear to be vegetables. What the…?? No one is going to literally eat him.
It’s Dionysus, whom, according to Wikipedia, was, “… the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre…” in ancient Greece.
And, this Olympic drag performance actually evokes the Feast of Dionysus, complete with Dionysus reclining on the dining table.
Dionysus would be at home at a festive meal, eating little, imbibing much. This Bacchanalian festival has also been oft depicted in paintings. Here is but one example:
Feast of Dionysus Painting
A table without food wouldn’t bother Dionysus. Just a lack of wine.
Insofar as accuracy is concerned, this is a match, and a real similarity between the Olympic performance and the DaVinci painting.
Both are related to dining.
One is an actual meal with people seated and dishes and plates and cups, the second a grotesque blue festivity god lying supine on a platter.
A match…of sorts, nevertheless, a match, all the same.
However, do consider that sex, family, food, work, and worship are significant parts of life.
It’s no coincidence that these make their way into performances, plays, movies, and songs.
And, this was the god of feasts, after all. We don’t expect to find him reading books or watching T.V.
Some might go further and suggest that partaking of the Dionysus figure on the platter is akin to the Catholic practice of receiving the blood and body of Jesus in the sacrament of Communion.
Now, we are stretched quite far, way beyond what we probably should regard as reasonable.
But that’s okay; it’s part of the process.
There are a few other similarities between DaVinci’s work and Thomas Sweet’s.
People are lined up, facing forward. Clearly, a match.
Just like when someone’s taking a photograph of a group and everyone faces the camera.
That is a quite common occurrence, wouldn’t you say?
The “Table” in the Olympic Drag Performance
The narrow white strip on the raised surface could also be said to resemble the shape of the top of the table in the DaVinci painting, looking at the image in a photograph.
And, the red strip could be said to be a very stylized depiction of the front of a table.
In real life, where everything viewed is in 3D, this would have no been quite so. It’s an illusion, but when we consider that the actual paintings being recreated depict Dionysus, it makes sense, as most of those paintings of the feast include a table with food placed upon it.
So, it’s a rough match, but let’s credit this one anyway. So far, the pro-match proponents are lagging. Badly.
Finally A Match Between DaVinci’s Last Supper and Jolly’s Olympic Show: A Shape
There’s another visual similarity: The dome of the platter with Dionysus lying on it in the performance is (roughly) the same shape as the portico over the door behind Jesus in the DaVinci work.
There. I finally found a good match.
And, it’s not even a very good match, if we really look at the lack of other, more clear, matches. Without that context, it’s not much.
The dome is in the foreground; the portico is in the background. Eh, it’s not much.
How the Artists Might Have Hung the Lights to Suggest the Room the DaVinci Painting Depicted If That Were Their Intention.
However, we cannot honestly state that there are no similarities. There are similarities, but they are few and weak.
Concluding Notes: Mockery of DaVinci’s Last Supper Not Supported
In conclusion, there is very little similarity between the Olympic drag performance and DaVinci’s Last Supper.
This is an uproar without substantial actual reason.
Christians may rightly be questioning the central position of pagan influences in the performance.
To a Christian, such images may be considered abhorrent, reminders of evil civilizations past.
However, we should remember that ancient Greece was what Christians would consider a pagan society.
Thus, the elements of the theme that evoke pagan ideas might find their way into the Olympics Opening Celebration performances, as our own modern world’s Olympic Games are merely a nod to, and really a resurrection of, the Olympics Games staged in ancient Greece in millennia past.
So, what’s the answer? Are some looking for trouble because they’re troubled by the drag queen aspect of the performance?
Have we become so adversarial toward a group of people that we invent details that support our feelings and only later check to see if any of the details are based in factual, verifiable reality?
Let’s not do this.
If you’re a Christian, you have a right to be offended…when there is a real offense.
Just like a Muslim would feel offended by disrespectful performances about their prophets, or the Jews would be about their own worship.
However, let’s be real.
Even if you’re a Christian itching for what you regard as a righteous fight against evil and a chance to stand up for your faith, this isn’t it, most clearly not.
The resemblance between Leonardo DaVinci’s painting “The Last Supper” and Thomas Sweet’s Olympic drag performance is not significant or even really worthy of mention.
Our comprehensive analysis of the facts proves that there are better battles for those so inclined to fight, to fight.
Thus, the uproar was not well-deserved, or deserved at all whatever. Go spend your time protesting something that matters. That’s my opinion.
Even with A Real Lack of Similarities, Wasn’t This Still Mocking Jesus?
Some might suggest that even after this careful evaluation, we can’t determine that the drag Olympic performance wasn’t meant to evoke “The Last Supper,” via sparse and loose association.
If there is any association, it is such an association as this. Let’s ask where we’re headed with this.
A creative work is verboten not because it mockingly references religious images, stories, or figures, but merely because some feel that there are elements of the design that could be said to be somehow connected to the religious, though not directly.
If we accept this premise, then we no longer accept that we have Freedom of Expression in France, or any other civilized nation.
While some even disagree that we should have limits on criticism or mockery of others’ faith, this is a far cry from that. Here we only have shades and slight suggestions; if this is deemed irreverent, then what room is there for criticism of religion? Or, anything?
Can Drag Performers Depict The Last Supper, Or Is This Off-Limits?
And, what if the designers had meant to evoke “The Last Supper”? (We already know this is NOT the case, based on their own words and a lack of matching details!)
How is that wrong? Is calling to mind the life of Jesus now a sin?
Or, was it only a sin because we judge the dancers and performers as SINNERS, because they are clearly drag performers, a group that it’s acceptable to rain hatred upon? Jesus said that we’re all sinners, and let the pure innocent throw the first stone.
Contradiction, much?
In other words, even if this had been a clear depiction of “The Last Supper,” where would the mockery have been? What would have been the harm in such a depiction?
In the actual performance at the Olympics, which for some evoke notions of “The Last Supper” despite the creators’ denying such associations were considered when creating, where is the mockery?
Why can children in a church play put on such a skit, but not drag queens at the Olympics in France?
Is that to say that drag queens can do no right, that all they touch is tainted? That it’s not fitting to depict drag queens as Jesus and the twelve apostles?
What if the designers had instead consciously and willfully chosen to represent the scene depicted in DaVinci’s painting, and had staged the actors as the twelve apostles and Jesus, using their precise posture, limited the number of people on-stage to thirteen, and coordinated the wardrobe to correspond to each attendee of “The Last Supper” meal?
Some important questions are raised here; it’s my hope that Christians and non-Christians alike consider the finer points of all this, and the implications of stifling expression based on loosely associated themes that some people perceive are there.
It’s a slippery slope to slide down, and where we end up is not at all good.
There’s also the issue of Established Religion. We don’t have one in the U.S. of A. Some of us love Jesus, others of us don’t. That’s fine.
We don’t have a state religion, and people can actually critique their own, or one another’s faiths, all legally protected by our system.
Would A Disrespectful Interpretation of “The Last Supper” Even Be Blasphemous?
Blasphemy is speaking sacrilegiously about the Creator or sacred things.
If Christians accept Jesus as Messiah, or even as some Christians believe, the Actual Godhead, then a depiction of “The Last Supper” that shows disrespect to Jesus or the apostles might be considered blasphemy.
One such example would be having all the attendees depicted as drunkards. That would clearly be blasphemous.
Another might be showing Jesus as a buffoon. That would also qualify.
It seems that the Olympics drag performance does not qualify, even if it had been a willful recreation of the scene in DaVinci’s “The Last Supper.”
Editor’s note: August 5, 2024. The Vatican has since responded with this statement, “At a prestigious event where the whole world comes together to share common values, there should be no allusions ridiculing the religious convictions of many people. The freedom of expression, which is clearly not called into question here, is limited by respect for others.” Additionally, this article was posted in “Opinions” but I failed to write “Opinion” in the title. This has since been corrected. J.K. Junior Assistant Overnight Editor
I can’t imagine that Christians got their blood boiling over this. So much in the world needs attention and they focus on this. Shows you that they are hypocrites. Always the ones judging. None of them holding to that standard themselves. Pitiful.
Don’t expect me to make sense. I seldom do.
With that said, here goes:
None of the detractors explain precisely where the offense lies.
There is no offense. This article proves it.
The similarities are few.
It’s sick how this is even a controversial viewpoint. To say this.
Personally, I’d go probably get along better with some pagan blue drinking god than JC. Hell, he’d probably fit right in with my clique.
Same for you, Satan guy. We are mostly Christians and Muslims and Jews who aren’t so into organized religion anymore. We’re more about being real. It’s a fun crowd.
You Satan guy, make sense. But if you try winning us over to Satan expect some flak! haha
nah, you seem like an okay guy. Confused, but okay…
First you say he’s got insight, then you say he’s confused. What a mind****!
My five dollars of wisdom here:
1. Social media is a dangerous thing.
2. We need to fact check better.
Paul, you are correct.
Social media –is– a dangerous thing.
But in reality what do we do about it?
It’s like gossip on a whole different level.
I see what you’re talking about in the media all the time.
Things have devolved into gossip for sure.
I think social media just reflects the populace. Nothing more. No deep plots revealed.
We just get to see en masse what our ideas and values are, right there out front.
It’s shocking and there are bumping of heads.
That is a good thing.
Hopefully we all come away from this experiment wiser.
It’s how we use social media.
Morals or no morals.
And then whose morals, yours or my own?
We have to work together. But the far far right is off the wall at this point. And they control this.
But still we need to think of OUR MORALS. I am a Christian so I sure don’t need you to tell me how to be one.
” No deep plots revealed” But when Elon Musk took over twitter he did reveal some bad plots.
?????
Please stop thinking “Conspiracy theories” and just turning the other way.
Educate. Educate. Educate.
Teach people, young and old, to wade through the biased presentation.
As gossip is a sin, and a vice, I posit that Social media is a Spiritual hazard promoting sin and a vice
Social media is like the telephone. You can use it to spread rumors or to keep people connected. You aren’t right.
NO IT ISN’T. KIDS DID THIS ON THE PHONE AND GOSSIPED FOREVER. SO DID YOUR MOTHER. AND WE ALL HAD OUR SHARE OF CRAZIES. THE GUYS ON THE BLOCK. DIFFERENCE? NOW WE HAVE A FEW CRAZIES THAT WE ALL DEAL WITH THE MEDIA AND INFLUENCERS AND POLITICS. SAME DIFFERENCE.
DISGUSTING AND PERVERTED
THIS PAPER ALLOWS THE LIBBY CRAZIES TO HAVE A SOAPBOX FOR THEIR DUMB LOONY TOON IDEAS
THAT WAS 1000% THE LAST SUPPER. PROVE ME WRONG
What? The writer did.
How
Look, what they did at the Olympics wasn’t exactly the Last Supper, but there were overtones.
I think that was deliberate. They wanted to suggest but not state outright.
Clever French Lefty weirdos! Speaking via innuendo and suggestion. Challenging us.
I guess none feel as free as the free-wheeling French.
The question I have is aside from being gays and lesbians, what else was so offensive?
That’s all I see. I guess the Last Supper had been more solidly referenced, and Jesus is there doing His thing and then…Dionysus shows up, singing about nudity….
That would be a weird plot cross and supremely offensive also.
But that didn’t happen. I think the goal is to offend, but “softly” so that they get crazy press and coverage for a so-so opening ceremony. I mean that was what a kindergartner could make in five minutes.
That may be how some see it. I just see it as a lack of creativity and a clear love for the bizarre-a-la-France.
Can an openly flamboyantly gay carry the Sacraments in the ciborium? Or even be an alter boy?
Are gays now to be hidden and barred from referencing Christ, the Church, or God, in any way?
Where are we going with this?? My grandson is probably gay.
I’ll be the first to say it. The Emperor Wears No Clothes.
This was a social media blowup, and one day it will be evaluated calmly and with attention to fact and there will be shown to be little, if no, offense.
If you want to feel offended, go ahead. I’m not stopping you. But this Christian don’t care.
LIke…W T *?!?!
They did write this entire article and you can’t find the info elsewhere.
I am convinced that maybe the Oylmpics were trying to make you think of the Last Supper but did it in a sneaky way?
Because for real what are we American Christians going to think of first? Dyonysius or Jesus? Hmm…
I mean I’m a pagan and I also worship Jesus. So let that sink in.
But I keep to the rhythms of nature and seasons. Nothing too weird.
I don’t worship Dionysus but if I wanted to I would.
To me the gods are all manifestations of the one and only real god. They are like expressions of God. Stories to remind you. A way to relate to God who is more than we can understand..
I don’t think I could relate to God without the aid of Christianity or paganism or some way of making God something I can understand,.
Huh? So I have to shut my mouth now because you may misinterpret what I say and cry your way to the media? So we can’t have people lined up anymore for a photo op?
Here’s my Last Supper. No parody:
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That really didn’t make me think of The Last Supper.
Anyone have anything better?
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Sorry! It looks great in the editor but it gets distorted when it shows on the platform . 🙁
1. The world is the Olympics. The Olympics is a worldwide event. They aren’t thinking of what we think. Or are they? They are from Western culture so is it a slap in the face of Christianity and Christians worldwide?
2. The Last Supper was invoked for me for sure. It was the long line of people, posed. I don’t care if none of the poses match, or if the writer says, the “ward-robing”…how..err….Broadway of them, thank you very much!…doesn’t match either. For me, it was there.
3. Even if the performance had shades of da Vinci’s Last Supper painting, so what? It definitely was overtly pagan. The crown was no Monstrance, in my opinion. Just a very flamboyant design. Stage designs, plays, scripts, shows may invoke the Last Supper.
4. Where is the parody? I am all about parody and lunacy and irony. There is irony and lunacy here: That may have been the performers’ way of sharing what they see as Jesus’ love. Or maybe just the producers? And who are we to say it’s not real attempts to say thank you to Jesus? It all seemed very earnest and sincere. If the lady DJ in the middle had done something that many might consider untoward then I see the offense. Maybe making them all reeling drunks? Nah, no parody here. Irony that attempts to reference a holy painting are met with such consternation.
They can’t prove anything to you. It’s how YOU TAKE IT these same libbies endlessly say.
Well I’ve had it and I am a Catholic and I am not comfortable with this. On many levels.
I feel like the Last Supper painting is sacrosanct and shouldn’t be part of entertainment. That’s true if it’s on the Simpsons or anywhere else. Religion is not to amuse us.
But the liberals aren’t right on that and neither are you.
You can’t prove or disprove.
What? You INTERPRETED that performance at the Olympics as the Last Supper?
I got that.
But what else?
Was it actually The Last Supper?
I think any line of people posing forward with a central figure and what looks like a long table will be The Last Supper for most people.
But that is not to say it is The Last Supper or a parody or mockery. It can have an element of a scene without being a depiction of that scene.
So you can’t really prove anything. The blue man to me shows it is clearly Dionysus and not Jesus. But yeah, the long table makes me think of the painting by Leonardo di Vinci.
You need to be saved my friend.
Is DJ Vance the one in the center?
yeah saved from the stupidity of religion
No, saved from yourself and your insolence and pride.
What about if I started mocking you for worshiping a make-believe devil? Would you like it?
You know there’ is no such thing as Satan, right? And no God, either?
Those devil stories are just tall tales they told the ignorant masses to keep them in line.
Liberate yourself and ditch Satan.
And while you’re at it, you may want to think of a new hairstyle. Just my perspective.
you’ll find out too late that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.
I don’t see any offense here except the nudity of the blue man and the showing of pagan gods/demons as somehow holy and worth respecting. I spit on them. All of the Diasnysius and the rest.
Amit he wasn’t even nude!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am a deeply offended Christian woman. This blasphemy. This article is just pandering. This is clearly the last supper painting. Stop lying!
I know right? Keep repeating the same lie and you think we forget reality.
The author did not lie one time. The photos are right there, unlike some news outlets and so-called “influencers.” We’re adults here. Or adolescents big enough to deal with the news. We can deal with a fat man in a Speedo lying on a table. The kids will get a laugh and appreciate it more than us anyway.
Why does this platform have literally the best image of the Feast of Dionysus on the entire web??
The Last Supper, too.
I think that they *** ******* ****** ** *** *** ** ******** ** ********* and that this is what you see as a result.
Yeah, I agree. For some reason what you wrote it’s covered by asterisks now.
But yes, to state it again, I think you are right. They source originals as oppposed to copies.
They aren’t better it’s your imagination and the Mandela effect silly.
I agree.
100%
“They aren’t better it’s your imagination and the Mandela effect silly.”
HAHAH I agree witrh you. Same old photos. Guy’s probably buzzed off a few beers second time around and everything looked “good.”
Yah these are the images that are the originals before they are jpegs. They are from the bitmaps. Then they make new jpegs from those originals they have access to.
I compared myself and it’s exactly the same.
I know, right? I looked and nothing else comes close. Editors, where do you source your images? they seem to have access to a different set of pics than the Internet.
“Social media creates a virtual reality, and who controls the virtual reality? Our new archenemy, the famous Elon Musk,” Maduro said. “Do you want to fight? Let’s do it. Elon Musk, I’m ready. I’m not afraid of you, Elon Musk. Let’s fight, wherever you want.”
Can they instead fight using a video game?
Elon!!!!!!!! if you read this (We know you read the Staten Islander!) send a shout out to “RASTA88369001010101”
Oh yeah, the reason you shout me out:
The idea stated above. You propose it and credit me. I don’t want anything more for helping get the idea out for a video game match. Give each six months to learn the game.
Yo, E, since this clown says you’re the VR king, o def def have a VR video game challenge. It’s the only response…
but you are so screwed you say you would rather hang out with a blue satanic false god than Jesus Christ who is God and then tell the world you’d be happy hanging out with an avowed Satanist. Real nice.
I am saved for six years now. Give your life to Jesus Christ today.
No thank you.
How about you give your life to a six year christian vow of silence TODAY?!
Hey y’all…What’s the big idea?
I tried posting my comment and it said not found error. So Ima type it again.
I wanted to say I stand with Jesus and the Baptist church.
I noticed that if I type a comment that is too conservative this seems to happen on every platform but most of all M***.
Your imagination. I am guessing conservatives are older and somehow time-out the page. Then it triggers a security alert on the pager blocker, because the page is sent back and the comment submitted after too long because conservatives are largely elders and they type real slow. Prove me wrong, yo.
Yeah Oh kay. The man said he stands with his religion. One sentence. How would that timeout a CAPTHA?
I am what you will say is a “lib.” Don’t be shocked, but my comments get censored, too.
I don’t mean I post them and they get removed. I mean there’s always some “critical error” on the platform.
Every. Single. One.
I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist, but how can that happen without coordination?
Luckily, I type comments off-line in an editor. So I keep posting until it accepts. Sometimes I have to take out sentence by sentence to see where it offends. It’s easy to test yourself. I am not testing just being my flamboyant self.
man I like the Larry David episode when he pees and gets urine and they think the statue is crying.
I’m not Christian and I really hate that they won’t shut up about this.
I like the Staten Islander. This is the first story with just facts. Everyone else is either pointing a finger saying “bad bad” to the performance or pretending that religion is the problem. Taking one side or the other.
yeah you would like that episode.
Why do you like spitting on Christianity?
bc ur perverse
that’s not even funny
sure
You’re a pig.That’s what you like?
Larry David is funny but that was pushing the boundaries too far.
Comedians push the boundaries but there has to be decorum.
Not for nothing but the last supper bunch looks like a gaggle of gossipy gals. I mean really. I could even say that if i saw that scene I’d be wondering if i wandered into an LGBT bar.
Yo that’s some messed up isht right there…
making fun of God is unforgivable sin you know…
This article is tripe pure tripe. This is disrespectful to Jesus Christ. When you are on your last breathe and cry out to Jesus don’t be surprised when he’s not there for you.
C’mon. This the last Supper. You fooling NO ONE. Not a soul
It doesn’t really look like the Dionysus painting or the da Vinci.
But most of us know the da Vinci.
So I think for most of us, it does evoke shades of the Last Supper.
I am not disrespected. I am Eastern Orthodox.
Even if it were the last Supper. I wouldn’t care.
Because they evoked historical scenes like Marie Antoinette, and so they are saying Jesus is among the important historic events.
That is how I see it.
It’s not about the Last Supper. I get it.
BUT—- Let’s just say it WAS about the Last Supper. Let’s make believe.
Where’s the offense? No one was doing anything nasty.
They evoked the idea of love with the heart hand symbol.
You all just hate gays. I am one, I live in Brooklyn thank God.
And I grew up Baptist but I left the church and I still love Jesus and pray to God.
You can’t tell me s***. I am a person who cares about my block and my neighborhood and stay active.
Drag queens as Jesus and the Disciples is plenty offensive enough.
I don’t get you Christians. You try to say you have a New Covenant based on some deeper kindness and love. Yet you are the most intolerant group now, or ever.
What I come away with is this:
These LGBTQIA12S performers wanted to say they stand with Jesus. Clear as day.
And Christians are acting like they own Jesus ™.
Forget about the times Jesus loved the leper and all the rest. He loved them *BEFORE* they repented.
So as for me, religion is a sad example of human custom that will hopefully die out.
I am Christian and my church accepts LGTB people. You are making everyone seem the same and that is wrong.
Your church is in sin. Come out of her! Repent!
Jesus…trademark…I love it. You hit the nail on the head.
I’m a Christian, too.
I don’t have an opinion on this.
But I’m leaning toward it’s just intolerance of gays doing Drag.
It’s like the kabuki theater but that is way too cultured for some of the readers of this paper, I am sure.
“Forget about the times Jesus loved the leper and all the rest. He loved them *BEFORE* they repented.”
Important point. I am not saying my Church is more “real”. But what are they teaching you guys at Sunday school?! Only love the saints? That isn’t very Christian. I’m sure.
“So as for me, religion is a sad example of human custom that will hopefully die out.”
You only hear their interpretations of Jesus life and Works by the voices that yell loudest. They aren’t the holiest among us and don’t represent Christianity.
The author hides behind a pseudonym while brave Christians risk their necks using their real names.
Coward!
And you chose to call yourself The Thinker. HAHAHAH
You couldn’t think your way out of paper bag.
I mean so…at least be serious. They wrote an article that did have facts and not feelings as you conservatives like to say.
And everything said had supporting evidence and no far-out ideas. It all made sense.
I’m a liberal Christian.
You conservatives don’t own the Cross!
CHECK OUT WHAT MICHAEL KNOWLES HAS TO SAY. HE HAS AN ENTIRE EPISODE DEDICATED TO PROVING HOW THIS DISRESPECTED GOD AND IS BLASPHEMY NOT A GREEK GOD.
Facts not feelings when it comes to us?
But for your own different standards?
My feelings matter also.
Thank you for the vote of confidence. lol At least you were honest from your point of view! 😉
I’ll try harder next time. I can always do better. I did apply a lot of effort but was this my best effort?
I’m not even a writer!
In fact, I’m genuinely sorry I didn’t connect my points better. Re-reading my piece, I see where I could have been clearer. Next time…again…as I say…
But I’d just like to really know one thing. Why do you take issue with my use of a pseudonym? Why might you care?
It rally doesn’t matter when it concerns what I wrote. What I wrote stands on its own, apart from me. In fact, forget that I wrote it.
I am not even a democrat. Or a republican. Not liberal. Not conservative. I see politics on a per-issue basis. I have voted for both.
I did not write this from a political point of view, not liberal, nor conservative. It’s just facts. That’s all.
I saw this all happening and wanted to say something while it’s relevant. I notice the details.
You, sir, do not! (And, still refuse to even see them when presented!)
I absolutely was not bashing Christianity, or even those opposing the Olympic performance, but rather just observing a phenomenon unfold on social media, and commenting honestly about what I saw happening,
telling an unpopular truth.
Of course I used a screen name! What are you nuts, guy? lol My own family would bash me because they can’t separate my telling of the truth from being anti-Christian.
I repeat: This. Was. Not. Anti-Christian.
Do you have any suggestions for new Screen name possibilities? I’ll see if they can change mine. Open to suggestions from everyone. Not cray about “The Thinker.”
I appreciate the Staten Islander for providing me with a place to have a voice on this topic and for the editorial help with this piece.
Whoa…not getting into this one~!
My pastor is already on my a** for drinking. And card games. And missing Sunday services.
I think he just misses my wife’s mac and cheese and cheesecake. He’s certainly not missing my pretending to listen and understand! ha ha
Atheist here.
People want their religions respected.
However, where is the disrespect here?
Even if it were a nod to da Vinci’s “The Last Supper?”
I’m missing something…
P.S. Dear editors…it’s da Vinci NOT DaVinci!
Drag queens represent sin. Men are men and women are women. Drag queens blur that line and it’s this gender bending that is most certainly the cause of everything wrong in our world, from abortion to greed.
Scapegoating much?
Yippee! I’m a secular humanist atheist, too! 🙂
It’s difficult keeping a straight face around these religious holy rollers.
The Staten Islander comments are always off the hook.
Life is about
🍏🍎🍐🍊🍋🍋🟩🍌🍉🍇🍓🫐🍈🍒🍑🥭🍍🥥🥝🍅🍆🥑🥦🫛🥬🥒🌶🫑🌽🥕🫒🧄🧅🫚🥔🍠🫘🥐🥯🍞🥖🥨🧀🥚🍳🧈🥞🧇🥓🥩🍗🍖🦴🌭🍔🍟🍕🫓🥪🥙🧆🌮🌯🫔🥗🥘🫕🥫🍝🍜🍲🍛🍣🍱🥟🦪🍤🍙🍚🍘🍥🥠🥮🍢🍡🍧🍨🍦🥧🧁🍰🎂🍮🍭🍬🍫🍿🍩🍪🌰🥜🍯🥛🍼🫖☕️🍵🧃🥤🧋🫙🍶🍺🍻🥂🍷🫗🥃🍸🍹🧉🍾🧊🥄🍴🍽🥣🥡🥢🧂
Forget the old man in the sky myths. Life is for indulgence. Feast away, and if the idea of silly of a fat Dionysus makes you smile, drink up and feel the wine! The gods we made up. Be smart.
I chose to leave the the name da Vinci alone. I have strict orders from the editors to leave the submissions alone unless there is an error. This can be spelled both ways and is just how the writer of this piece chose to go, spelling it “DaVinci.” It is less popular but I went with it.
J.K.
Junior Assistant Overnight Editor
Staten Islander News Oog
I just love, love, LOVE when people come into the Staten Islander social media comments platform to leave their two pence on a controversy.
Especially these guys who don’t even have avatars! The ones who lurk and lurk and one day post a comment after five years of lurking~!
The ones who retreat to the shadows again, right after some controversy is over…
The best are the ones whose association with the island is living in BK, Queens, or LI and drove through SI, on the VZ and the SI Expy as a pass-through to get out to NJ and the mainland of the USA without going through the Bronx or Manhattan!
Twice.
In an entire lifetime.
😐
Become a part of the community! Stick around and find out SI is more than a closed dump, an orange ferry, and some truly insane pizza. (Not joking –THIRD TIME in 2024 telling the truth! — these are all truly Staten Island classics~! And we love our ferries, sick pizza, and closed dumps!)
:”We Long Islanders use Staten Island for our better highways and our interesting newspapers!”
Yup. You know they’re not from the island right there when they say taht
“Better roads?” I guess if your choice is to head through Chinatown on Canal to get to the NJ tunnels from LI, then maybe the SI Expressway could be called “better roads.”
Just watch those potholes because a front end job runs up there these days! I mean parts and labor and you’re out. Way out.
As far as good news, that one i can’t exactly argue on. I read the Advance for the crime section and sports, and the Staten Islander for most everything else. (FOURTH TIME in 2024 telling truth! — I think there’s something wrong with me.)
And, to all you newbies on here, at least let a guy get his word in edgewise before you split for the shadows once again and make like scrammo!!
I have better things to do than hanging out at the Staten Islander.
As is clearly evidenced by the comment you left.
What is doge?
You’re kidding, right?
Disgraziada
Michael Knowles said that it is the Last Supper bc they are all lined up on one side of the “table.”
But it’s not a real table, Michael!~ It’s just a stage. The edge. So that doesn’t convince me. They said the same thing on here when pointing out similarities and differences,
Knowles said he’s provide proof but that was it.
That about the table and also the same idea some commenter already said on this Staten Islander article days before about how are we supposed to think of Dionysus and not Jesus when he’s not even in our minds?
That is what comes to our minds, living in 2024: Jesus.
But does that mean that anything that can be mistaken for pointing to a painting is verboten?
The painting is pointing to a scene in the Christian Bible which points to Jesus. So I get it that it represents something holy.
This was the Last Supper.
No creo que la Última Cena deba ser parte del espectáculo. El hombre vestido de mujer no me molesta. Pero el cuadro debería ser sólo para mostrar respeto.
S*** man,,,,
I dunno wat to sayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Leave the LGBTQ alone
(20 y.o. cis-gendered hetero woman here)
At a prestigious event where the whole world comes together to share common values, there should be no allusions ridiculing the religious convictions of many people. The freedom of expression, which is clearly not called into question here, is limited by respect for others,” the Vatican said.
That really is a mature response from the Vatican and way over what we are discussing.
In the end they are the most spiritual voice in the discussion.
If you ask me? I’m not offended. But I can see how some could be. The long table, lined up, poses, central figure. It’s not a lot, but it’s enough.
As a Muslim, I know that Prophet Isa (Jesus) Peace Be Upon Him, is worthy of respect.
The Olympics was not respectful of religions.
Even if you don’t believe be respectful of others.
i don’t support Muslims being violent over disrespectful depictions of Mohammed, But I do support their outrage and that is not even my religion. I just don’t think it ever justifies violence. But we should all use our freedoms with care and respect for other people. Someone in the above comment section wrote about the Larry David episode that was so disrespectful. But he also had one story about an imaginary fatwa. He does push boundaries, but it can be disgusting.
I am bot offended but it is the Last Supper. not the biggest deal.
The singing head was worse.
I’ll get the last word in. I never realized that but the Statesmen Islander has it set so whoever keeps posting ‘gets the last word.’ So let it be me.
See, they knew that if they did the Last Supper detail-for-detail they’d get called out, but they did it sneaky-like and people -still- caught the dis they were putting out…shade to Jesus Christ…
CAUGHT.
You can say that any time people are lined up it looks like Last Supper yada yada but really this performance was meant to look like a table bc the front was higher up than the crowd and the Dionysus demon lord was wheeled out on a platter. And he talked about being indecent. Demon. They were all witches and warlocks.
Not only that they go out of their way to look straight DEMONIC! There’s pretty and that’s not it. There are pretty trans women. Could fool you. These ones are doing Drag which is like devil worship when you think about it. They honor the freedom to sin.
i don’t support Muslims being violent over disrespectful depictions of Mohammed, But I do support their outrage and that is not even my religion. I just don’t think it ever justifies violence. But we should all use our freedoms with care and respect for other people. Someone in the above comment section wrote about the Larry David episode that was so disrespectful. But he also had one story about an imaginary fatwa. He does push boundaries, but it can be disgusting.