Amid the backlash surrounding the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony over the resemblance of the biblical scene portrayed in Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” featuring drag queens, Hallmark alum Candace Cameron Bure shares her thoughts on the controversial event.
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Noting she loves the Olympics, Cameron Bure stated, “My husband is a two-time Olympic medalist. So is my brother-in-law and my father-in-law is a three-time Olympic medalist. And I have many friends that have competed in games over the years. And it’s something as a kid I have always loved.”
But then Candace Cameron Bure stated the 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony made her angry.
“To watch such an incredible and wonderful event … and see the opening ceremonies completely blasphemed and mock the Christian faith with their interpretation of the Last Supper was disgusting,” she stated.
“And it made me so sad… Trust me. It makes me mad. But I’m more sad. Because I’m sad for souls… I pray for my heart to break over what breaks God’s heart…”
Offering advice to her fellow Christians, Candace stated, “Don’t get tired of doing good. Keep sharing the Gospel. And it’s not just for the people that openly mock God… There’s Christians out there that say, ‘Well, I’m a Christian. It didn’t really bother me.’ Those people need to hear the Gospel too.”
Despite her disdain for the opening ceremony, Candace Cameron Bure says she is not going to boycott the Olympics.
“As far as the games go, do what you want to do,” she said. “You want to boycott? Boycott the games. I’m going to watch the games. I want to support the athletes. There are a lot of great Christian athletes competing as well. But I want to cheer them on. I want to see God getting the glory. And I’m going to watch… But if you feel a conviction not to watch, then don’t.”
Olympics Opening Ceremony Artistic Director Clarifies What the Scene Was Really About
Meanwhile, during an official Olympic press conference on Saturday, July 27, Olympics Opening Ceremony Artistic Director, Thomas Jolly, defended the event by stating the scene was not meant to be “subversive, mock, or shock.”
“My will is to say we are an immense ‘we’,” Jolly explained, per Deadline. “In France, we have the right to love each other, as we want, with whoever we want, in France we have the right to believe and not to believe. In France, we have many rights.”
The official X account for the Olympic Games also pointed out that the scene was actually a recreation of a Greek party and not “The Last Supper.”
“The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings,” read a tweet captioning the photos.
Jolly confirmed “The Last Supper” was “not my inspiration” during an interview with French news channel BFM-TV.
“There is Dionysus who arrives on this table. He is there because he is the God of celebration in Greek mythology,” Jolly said. “The idea was to have a pagan celebration connected to the gods of Olympus. You will never find in me a desire to mock and denigrate anyone.”
Candace Cameron Bure edited her Instagram post’s caption to note that she has heard about the Dionysus inspiration but she “doesn’t buy it.”
“I still don’t see how that relates to unifying the world through competitive sports and acceptable for children to watch,” she noted. “In any case, I’m not buying it.”