PARIS — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox says he missed the portion of the Paris Games’ opening ceremonies that’s being called a parody of the biblical Last Supper, but expects Utah’s next Olympics in 2034 to showcase the state’s “values and our commitment to building family and community.”
The governor was responding on X to a post by Ryan Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University and the pastor of an American Baptist Church in Illinois for more than 17 years. Budge didn’t reference the segment of the 2024 Summer Games ceremonies that critics on social media said replaced Jesus and his disciples with drag queens.
Instead, Burge posted a chart showing lower church attendance in France and the rest of Europe than in the United States, calling it “Apropos of noting at all. France is one of the least religious countries in Europe. About 8% of the French report church attendance. That’s lower than the least religious state — New Hampshire at 12%. And lower than the European average (14%).
Cox, who sat in the stands reserved for dignitaries at the temporary stadium built for the event near the Eiffel Tower at the Trocadero, suggested he went back to watch that portion of the lengthy ceremonies that mixed live performances along the Seine River and other iconic Paris locations with taped segments.
“It was a 4-hour long opening with lots of rain and apparently we missed a few things. I’m seeing video of a blatant mockery of a sacred event that my faith cherishes (the Last Supper of Christ). I can’t wait for the opening ceremonies in 2034 (like 2002) to showcase Utah values and our commitment to building family and community,” the governor said in his post.
The artistic director of the Paris 2024 of the opening and closing ceremonies told reporters in French Saturday that wasn’t the intention of the ceremonies.
“The idea is not to be subversive or to shock people or to mock people. Not at all,” Thomas Jolly said, according to a translation, adding, “the idea was to send a message of love and of inclusion. Enough for divisions. We’ve had enough in political terms. Also with COVID, everyone was isolated at home. And with my team, we wanted something that would unite people.”
Asked about understanding the offended reactions from other parts of the world, the organizing committee’s president, Tony Estanguet, said he wanted to send “a message as strong as possible” about French culture.
“We imagined a ceremony to show our values and our principles,” Estanguet said, adding “we actually had to take into account the international community. Having said that, it’s the French ceremony for the French Games, Paris 2024. So we trusted our artistic director. We trusted him and his team.”
Jolly answered by saying he wanted to showcase diversity.
“We wanted to include everyone,” he said, adding that “we have the right to love whom we want. We have the right not to be worshippers. We have a lot of rights in France and this is what I wanted to convey. These are values that are important to us so quite frankly, I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games that will organize the 2034 Winter Games, said he looks “forward to telling Utah’s story again to a new generation with beauty, history and our great culture we can all be proud of.”
Bullock, who praised elements of the Paris opening ceremonies, said every Olympic ceremony is different, “reflecting the unique aspects of a county. In Paris, the Seine and the Eiffel Tower were iconic. Ceremonies also reflect the variations of culture and artistic impressions around the world.”
