In a gaffe shortly before French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Games open, the five-ring Olympic flag was raised upside down at the Trocadero, across from the Eiffel Tower.
The Paris Opening Ceremony left viewers around the world stunned with dazzling light displays, a jaw-dropping return of Celine Dion, and a medley of avant-garde performances.
No strangers to the stage, a cadre of drag queens and models walked a red carpet runway along the Passerelle Debilly bridge near the end of the four-hour Opening Ceremony spectacle.
One of those stars was none other than "RuPaul's Drag Race" star Nicky Doll. The queen strutted the bridge alongside "Drag Race France" favorites Paloma and Piche.
The queens were joined by dozens of other models and performers in a rendition many online thought resembled da Vinci's The Last Supper. The Olympics X account, however, called it an "interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus" that "makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings."
Olympics: The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings. #Paris2024 #OpeningCeremony pic.twitter.com/2vnMNrlmMi
— Paris 2024 Olympics (English) (@OlympicsParis) July 26, 2024
While the similarities seemed striking to many, there were clear differences too with the historic painting. The Opening Ceremony performance, for example, had 17 people seated on the runway, while the painting depicts 13 people.
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The contribution of the queens in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics is considered historic, including their reported carrying of the Olympic torches for the first time.
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The dazzling artistic display drew applause of plenty across the internet excited to see the inclusion of the queens, but not all voices offered support.
Tech giant Elon Musk, who was recently called out by his transgender daughter for his "cruel" words, deemed the "Last Supper" performance as "extremely disrespectful to Christians."
Kansas City Chief's kicker Harrison Butker, still taking shots for his May commencement speech where he lambasted gay rights and told women to get into the kitchen, reposted the video to his 189,000 followers with a Galatians passage.
