This is the article that appeared in the September 2024 edition of Catalyst, our monthly journal. The date that prints out reflects the day that it was uploaded to our website. For a more accurate date of when the article was first published, check out the news release, here.
The vulgar parody of the Last Supper at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris was not simply the product of one very sick anti-Christian bigot. There is good reason to believe that senior French officials gave their blessings to this attack on Christianity. That is why we asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to launch an investigation.
Much of the attention focused on the antics of the man who created the offensive skit, Thomas Jolly. According to the New York Times, growing up his parents “nurtured his passions for dolls and classical dance.” Not surprisingly, they raised a homosexual.
Days before the opening ceremony, the Associated Press reported that Jolly was being “extremely tight-lipped about what would eventually transpire at the ceremony.” But everyone knew he was up to something. “‘I’ll be fired if I tell you anything,’ Jolly says with a ‘cheeky laugh.'” Now why in the world would Jolly say that? Was he planning to mock Muslims?
President Emmanuel Macron was not kept in the dark. It was reported by the New York Times that Macron had “a keen interest in the show” and met with Jolly “regularly.” It is hard to believe they didn’t discuss the show’s content.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also had strong interest in the show; she, too, met with Jolly regularly. She said his production would be “playful, with a message of the city’s ‘openness to the world and the pleasure of diversity.'” Now why in the world would she say that? What kind of “playful” skit would someone like Jolly craft that would celebrate the “pleasure of diversity”?
Tony Estanguet, the President of Paris 2024, is the one who appointed Jolly to be Artistic Director of the Olympic ceremonies. In his statement in 2022 heralding his choice, he bragged how Jolly’s “extraordinary shows are proof that he knows how to break norms and take them to the next level.” Now why in the world would he say that?
Bill Donohue wrote to IOC President Thomas Bach explaining why a probe of French officials was needed. We published an email contact for him and we are happy to report he was bombarded with letters.
We contacted him a second time about the closing ceremony, asking that he do what he can to make sure that Jolly does not offend again. We also contacted the 15 major sponsors of the games, leading Republicans and Democrats, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, asking them to do the same.
The closing ceremony went off without a problem. Whether Jolly had scripted an offensive skit that he felt pressured to nix is not known.
