New Delhi: Actress-politician Kangana Ranaut has criticised organisers of the Paris Olympics after they included a show in the opening ceremony that featured drag queens imitating Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper”.
The multi-sport event, in which India is represented by 117 athletes, began with a nearly four-hour-long grand opening ceremony in the French capital on Friday evening.
The organisers faced a lot of criticism on social media for the drag act of 18 performers, including three famous Drag Race France queens, who posed behind a long table against the backdrop of the River Seine and the Eiffel Tower.
There was a large tray placed on the table, inside of which sat a scantily clad man painted in bright blue.
In a post on her Instagram Stories, Ranaut criticised the act, calling it a “hyper-sexualised, blasphemous rendition” of “The Last Supper”, one of the world’s most famous works of art which depicts Jesus’ last meal with his apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion.
Ranaut, who was recently elected to the Lok Sabha on a BJP ticket from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, also criticised the organisers for including a child in the event.
“The over-sexualised, blasphemous performance of The Last Supper at the Paris Olympics is being criticised for including a child. A child can also be seen joining the drag queens during the performance.
“They depicted a naked man painted blue as Jesus Christ and mocked Christianity. The left has completely hijacked Olympics 2024. Shameful,” he wrote.
Ranaut further said that at the opening of the Olympics, everything was about “being gay”.
He said, “I am not against homosexuality, but it is beyond my understanding what connection does the Olympics have with any sexuality? Why is sports, participation in sports by all countries claiming human excellence, being replaced by sex? Why can’t sex be confined to our bedrooms? Why should it be made a national identity?..This is bizarre!!”
Organisers explained the act in detail in a post on the official Paris Olympics page.
The post read, “Olympics: An explanation of the Greek god Dionysus makes us aware of the folly of violence between humans.”
Earlier, billionaire Elon Musk criticised the display in a post on X, calling it “extremely offensive to Christians”.
The Paris Olympics will run until August 11.
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