They might need to wash this down with wine.
Controversial Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker slammed the apparent 2024 Paris Olympics’ drag queen recreation of the “Last Supper” as “crazy” — as French religious officials denounced the performance as a “mockery” of Christianity.
The intensely criticized display at Friday evening’s opening ceremony featured 18 performers posing behind what appeared to be a long table with the River Seine and the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the background.
The setup was a play on the final meal between Jesus Christ and his apostles as depicted in the New Testament — and most famously recreated by Leonardo da Vinci’s mural from the 1490s.
“This is crazy,” Butker wrote on his Instagram Stories alongside a screenshot of the opening ceremony version.
He also added a quote from the book of Galatians, which read, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked.”
Butker, 29, is often vocal about his brand of devout Catholicism.
He went viral in May for his commencement speech at Benedictine College, where he exhorted the female graduates to embrace their “vocation” in marriage and motherhood as opposed to careers.
His reaction to the opening ceremony performance echoed that of the Bishops’ Conference of France, the national organization of Catholic bishops.
In a statement released early Saturday, the group denounced the performance as “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deeply deplore.”
“We thank the members of other religious denominations who have expressed their solidarity. This morning, we think of all Christians on all continents who have been hurt by the outrage and provocation of certain scenes,” they added.
One of the more well-known Catholic leaders in the US, Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota, also called on parishioners to “make their voices heard” over “the gross mockery of the ‘Last Supper.’”
Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wis., went a step further, and called on Catholics to “fast and pray, renew our devotion to the Eucharist, the Sacred Heart and the Virgin Mary.”
A Paris 2024 spokesperson pushed back on the criticism of the drag recreation.
“Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect towards any religious group or belief. On the contrary, each of the tableaux in the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony were intended to celebrate community and tolerance,” they told Page Six Saturday.
Artistic director Thomas Jolly “took inspiration from Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting” of the Last Supper for the ceremony’s “Festivities” segment to “create the setting,” they added.
“He is not the first artist to make a reference to what is a world-famous work of art,” the spokesperson concludes. “From Andy Warhol to the Simpsons, many have done it before him.”
