The organizers of the Paris Olympics are apologizing to Christians and all who were outraged by the open ceremony’s depiction of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” as a gathering of drag queens. Christian groups across the world have condemned the act. 

Friday’s opening ceremony — which was celebrated for its performances, including by torch bearers and singer Céline Dion — was partly overshadowed by a performance of several drag queens who attempted to parody “The Last Supper.”

Christian groups were outraged by what they saw as a blasphemous performance, which has led organizers to apologize. 

The ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, told the Associated Press that he did not mean to offend anyone with his idea for the parody. “My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock,” Mr. Jolly said. “Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.”

The communications director for the games, Anne Descamps, echoed those sentiments during a press conference on Sunday, saying that Mr. Jolly wanted to “celebrate” all people, not mock Christians. 

“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think (with) Thomas Jolly, we really did try to celebrate community tolerance,” Ms. Descamps said, according to the Associated Press. “Looking at the result of the polls that we shared, we believe that this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are, of course, really, really sorry.”

Christians and religious groups demanded the Olympics apologize for the performance. Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona Rochester described the parody as a malady of a “deeply secularist postmodern society.”

“What do I see but this gross mockery of ‘The Last Supper?’” he said in a video posted to X. “Would they ever dream of mocking — in this gross, public way — A scene from the Quran?”

The French Catholic conference of bishops, the Anglican Communion in Egypt, and even the Russian Foreign Ministry decried the scene, according to the Associated Press. 

Senator Britt, the first-term lawmaker from Alabama, asked Vice President Harris to condemn the incident, saying that the parody is a sign of an erosion of Christian values and respect of one’s faith.. 

“This was an intentional choice to mock Christianity and Christians,” Mrs. Britt wrote on Saturday. “It’s disgraceful. And it’s the same kind of bizarre craziness that’s being pushed on children and teenagers across America. We need to turn our eyes back to God and restore common sense.”

A South African pastor, Bert Pretorious, wrote on X about the “deeply offensive parody” that was “blasphemously depicting the roles of Jesus Christ and his disciples.”

“The depiction of Jesus Christ in drag is a deliberate and offensive trivialization of a sacred religious event,” he writes. “While we champion freedom of expression, and encourage diversity and inclusivity, there is no good reason to disrespect the religious beliefs of millions of Christians on a world stage.”