Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has slammed the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on his Instagram story, according to Fox News.
The story is no longer visible on Butker’s page. “This is crazy,” he wrote of the performance, according to Fox, which reported that he shared video from the ceremony and shared a Biblical passage, writing, “Be not deceived. God is not mocked.”
Others also criticized the performance, with X CEO Elon Musk writing, “This was extremely disrespectful to Christians.”
Bishop Robert Barron said in a video posted on X that the performance was a “gross mockery” of the Last Supper and a “flippant mockery.”
However, The Daily Beast labeled Butker’s and Musk’s comments as part of a “MAGA” driven “freak out.”
The New York Times reported that the performance came during the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony on July 26 and has “drawn criticism from church leaders and conservative politicians for a perceived likeness to Leonardo da Vinci’s depiction of a biblical scene in ‘The Last Supper.'”
“The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings,” the Olympics X account wrote, describing the performance’s intent.
The Drag Queen Performance Included a Painted Blue Man on a Dinner Plate, Video Shows
According to the Times, which explored whether the performance was a “parody” of “The Last Supper,” organizers denied that it was “intended to mock or offend,” but “have remained largely vague about the references associated with the images.”
Video of the performance shows a woman with a silver headdress surrounded by drag queens at a long table.
Later, a man who was painted blue appeared in a dinner plate with fruit and drag queens surrounding him, video shows.
Some commentators on X criticized the inclusion of a child in the skit.
In a press release, the French Bishops Conference wrote that the ceremony “included scenes of mockery and derision of Christianity, which we deeply regret. We would like to thank the members of other religious denominations who have expressed their solidarity with us.”
“We were shocked by the mockery of the Last Supper during the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics. C Spire will be pulling our advertising from the Olympics,” C Spire, a telecommunications company, announced in a statement posted to X.
Harrison Butker Previously Made News With a Controversial Commencement Speech
Butker’s religious views are well-known; he previously made controversial comments in a commencement speech for Benedictine College. In that speech, Butker urged women to be homemakers and students to “fight against the cultural emasculation of men” while criticizing “things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values and media all stem from pervasiveness of disorder.”
A petition subsequently demanded that the Chiefs dismiss Butker because of those comments.
“The harmful remarks made by Harrison Butker, kicker of the Kansas City Chiefs, during his commencement address at Benedictine College were unacceptable,” that petition began.
However, Butker remains a member of the Chiefs’ team. “Butker enters his eighth season with the Chiefs in 2024,” its website says. “Originally entered the NFL as a seventh-round pick (233rd overall) by the Carolina Panthers in the 2017 NFL Draft.”
