Barbara Butch, the plus-size woman who depicted “Jesus” in the Olympics Opening Ceremony has revealed that her motivation in the controversial performance was to “promote love”
The French DJ, who identifies as queer, has been accused of “mocking Christianity.
Butch as well as several drag queens and trans people, came under fire for their parody of The Last Supper painting, which represents Jesus and his 12 disciples.
OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY: WOMAN WHO DEPICTED ‘JESUS’ SPEAKS OUT
In an Instagram post, Barbara Butch defended the Olympics Opening Ceremony against backlash.
She posted: “I’m a Love activist, DJ and producer based in Paris. My aim is to unite people, gather humans, and share love through music for all of us to dance and make our hearts beat in unison! Music sounds better with all of us!
In another, she claimed the skit was to “celebrate love, inclusivity, diversity through music & dance to unite all of us.”When one follower accused her of blasphemy, she responded: “I see nothing to do with Christianity, but ok”
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A post shared by Barbara Butch (@barbarabutch)
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Butch added that the skit was not based on Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper, but of Italian painter Giovanni Bellini’s artwork titled The Feast of the Gods.
Olympics Opening Ceremony Artistic Director Thomas Jolly also defended the show.
In a press conference on Saturday, 27 July, Jolly claimed his intention was “not to, mock or shock.”
He said: “Our idea was inclusion. Naturally, when we want to include everyone and not exclude anyone, questions are raised. We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everybody.
“In France, we have artistic freedom. We are lucky in France to live in a free country.”Meanwhile, Paris 2024 Spokesperson Anne Descamps issued an apology to the public amid the social media outcry.
She said in a statement: “Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. (The opening ceremony) tried to celebrate community tolerance.
“We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence we are really sorry.”