The 2024 Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony has proved extremely divisive, evoking heavily politicised reactions and accusations of Satanism online.
Last night (July 26), the Paris Olympic Games opened, with 300,000 fans watching from the riverside as an armada of boats carried athletes along the Seine in the pouring rain.
The opening ceremony included performances from Gojira, Lady Gaga and Celine Dion – who moved viewers around the world with her triumphant return to the stage, having not performed in four years following a diagnosis of Stiff Person Syndrome.
Reactions to the musical performances, and Dion’s in particular, were warm. The more unique moments of the ceremony, which ranged from performances featuring Marie Antoinette figurines, a man painted in head-to-toe blue body paint and masked torch-bearers, were less so.
The 2024 Paris Olympics has gone full Woke dystopian.
The opening ceremony was filled with transgend*r mockery of the Last Supper, the Golden Calf idol, and even the Pale Horse from the Book of Revelation.
The Olympics has made it clear that Christian viewers aren't welcome. pic.twitter.com/LgawyE6YRX
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) July 26, 2024
Far-right commentators took umbrage with the inclusion of drag and trans performers, as well as what appeared to be a recreation of the last supper – moving the conversation away from the ceremony’s more theatrical elements to level accusations of “trans propaganda”, and on the more extreme end, “Satanism”.
So the whole world is going to realize how far France have gone into trans propaganda. I’m so ashamed of what my country is becoming. #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/3S2slGE2Az
— Marguerite Stern (@Margueritestern) July 26, 2024
As a sincerely patriotic French girl, I disolidarise myself from this freakshow and apologize to you, world.#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/KXr55NdACW
— Juliette Briens (@JulietteBriens) July 26, 2024
Putin: “The West are engaged in satanism.”
The West: “THATS A CONSPIRACY THEORY! WHY WOULD ANYONE THINK THAT!”
Also the West: pic.twitter.com/cutAY4Jh4k
— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) July 26, 2024
To all the Christians of the world who are watching the #Paris2024 ceremony and felt insulted by this drag queen parody of the Last Supper, know that it is not France that is speaking but a left-wing minority ready for any provocation. #notinmyname
À tous les chrétiens du monde… pic.twitter.com/GusP2TR63u
— Marion Maréchal (@MarionMarechal) July 26, 2024
Another dominant political element to the online commentary of the ceremony was the Israel-Gaza conflict. Against a backdrop of ongoing atrocities in Palestine, many viewers celebrated the presence of Palestinian athletes, with one reporting: “The delegation from Palestine was massively cheered as it passed along the Seine river in Paris.”
The delegation from Palestine was massively cheered as it passed along the Seine river in Paris.
#Paris2024 #OlympicGames pic.twitter.com/WnaDTmRQaG
— sarah (@sahouraxo) July 26, 2024
Fans online largely rejoiced when Israel’s team was audibly booed as they cruised along the river, with others questioning why they were not banned from the event.
#Israel team roundly booed in Paris #Olympics opening ceremony
pic.twitter.com/cegpGI8trV
— Brighton PSC (@BrightonPSC) July 26, 2024
Out of the ashes, we always rise.
Team Palestine— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) July 26, 2024
Spain’s MEP, Irene Montero:
“Israel should be banned from the Olympics. We cannot allow sports to be used to whitewash the faces of genociders.”
“What deep shame, what profound disgust, what an unacceptable complicity of Europe with these criminals.”#Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/M2eDDlQTly
— sarah (@sahouraxo) July 26, 2024
The quirky ceremony has proven extremely divisive, but many viewers revelled in the chaos, labelling it light-heartedly “very French”, with one viewer joking: “if you’re not watching the olympic opening ceremony the main torchbearer is a masked vigilante wearing keens and les miserables-style revolutionary rags who entered on a boat to the phantom of the opera theme and is now doing parkour around paris to techno. extremely french”
Check out footage of the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony and more viewer reactions below:
Me watching this horse travel down the Seine for 5 hours #OpeningCeremony #OlympicGames pic.twitter.com/yeI2A4SauG
— Grace (@graceyldn) July 26, 2024
This #OpeningCeremony has everything. Boats. Parkour. Accordians. A woman dressed as a croissant. More boats. Lady Gaga. pic.twitter.com/asclWZwTNi
— TechnicallyRon (On all the platforms) (@TechnicallyRon) July 26, 2024
Do we all agree that the metal show mixing opera singers , fire, art and history was INSANE, right?!
#gojira #OlympicGames #Olympic2024 #ceremoniedouverture #OpeningCeremony pic.twitter.com/91cBg8qFeV
— ًㅤ (@chantal483) July 26, 2024
This will remain one of the most memorable moments of 2024 #OpeningCeremony #Olympics pic.twitter.com/52JL2DHquU
— Velina Tchakarova (@vtchakarova) July 26, 2024
Meanwhile, Snoop Dogg carried the Olympic torch through Paris ahead of the opening ceremony last night.
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