In the aftermath of the provocative opening ceremony during the Paris Olympics, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah urged Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff in a letter Thursday to defend Christians as he leads the American delegation at the closing ceremony on Aug. 11.
The Paris Olympics opening ceremony on July 26 invoked outrage among many viewers for its Christian “mockery,” most notably by reenacting the Last Supper and using drag queens to replace Christ and his disciples. In response to the scandalous display, Lee called on Emhoff to convey the country’s “disappointment and opposition” to the opening ceremony, which he deemed an “insult against America’s 210 million practicing Christians.”
“The Paris Opening Ceremonies were a lazy slap in the face to Christians across the globe by people so devoid of talent and inspiration that they mock sacred art to feel special,” Lee told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “I hope that Mr. Emhoff, as part of the Presidential Delegation to the Olympic Games speaks up for people of faith in America and across the world—it is the very least he could do.”
What solemn mockery of the sacred!
What a display of contempt for the world’s 2.6 billion Christians!
What a stunning manifestation of tone-deafness! https://t.co/8YEf7bA8sB pic.twitter.com/ofeqSYqXgb
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) July 28, 2024
“As a representative of the United States to these ceremonies, you have a unique opportunity and responsibility to convey the feelings of the American people in response to this bastardization of the Olympic tradition,” Lee said in the letter.
In response to the backlash of the opening ceremony, Olympic artistic director Thomas Jolly claimed during a news conference on July 27 that the Last Supper was not his inspiration but rather that he wanted to be diverse and inclusive.
To those who didn’t love the opening ceremonies at the Olympics, it’s important to know who created them & why.
The artistic director for the 2024 Olympics is French artist Thomas Jolly.
While we know little about him, we know what we produced.
Many of us wonder why.
1/… pic.twitter.com/wTW6cUcI0x
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) July 29, 2024
“Our subject was not to be subversive,” Jolly said during the conference. “We never wanted to be subversive. We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together,” he continued. “We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that. 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 a republic, we have the right to love whom we want, we have the right not to be worshippers,” Jolly said. “We have a lot of rights in France, and this is what I wanted to convey.”
The IOC said in a statement that the opening ceremony organizers had no intention to disrespect any religious group or belief, and added that “if anyone was offended by certain scenes, this was completely unintentional and they were sorry.”
Lee pushed back against Jolly’s statements, and reiterated that the performance showed “contempt for Christians and their sacred imagery,” leaving many American Christians “hurt” and “disheartened.”
“Millions of Americans watched the opening ceremony from home, eager to support Team USA athletes in their quest for the gold, only to be left hurt, angered, and disheartened by the contempt for a pivotal moment in the history of Christianity,” Lee said in the letter. “The opening ceremonies should have been a moment of national pride and mutual support for our competitors with an admiration for a global tradition that has brought nations together for centuries.”
Emhoff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
(Featured image credit: Screen Capture/CSPAN)
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