Social media users report that videos of the ceremony are now being systematically removed online amid the backlash.

The Qatari Minister of State for International Cooperation has taken to social media to express her “disgust” at the parody reenactment of the canonical Last Supper event during the Olympic Games Paris 2024 opening ceremony.

“As a Muslim I totally reject and denounce the demeaning manner of how Jesus Christ peace be upon him was characterized,” Lolwah Al Khater said via X on Saturday.

In the Islamic faith, the concept of Isa, or Jesus, is that he is a prophet of God who was miraculously born to the virgin Maryam, or Mary.

This belief was reflected in a separate X post from Al Khater on Saturday which referenced a Quranic verse recounting Isa’s honoured status in Islam.

The Qatari official added that she stands in solidarity with the world’s Christian communities who also took offence to the ceremony’s portrayal.

For instance, Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota described it as a “gross mockery” of Christian belief.

‘Confusing, chaotic, tastless’

Friday’s opening festivities kicked off by highlighting French icons, such as Zinedine Zidane, and celebrated French culture, such as lining the banks of Paris’ Seine river with cancan dancers.

However, it also sparked controversy, due to its feature of performers from alternative lifestyles posing in ways that recalled depictions of the Last Supper.

At the centre of the dancers was a DJ seen wearing a silver headdress which resembled a halo.

Echoing Al Khater’s position, Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari, president of Qatar National Library, said the ceremony was “nothing more than an insult to the Christian religion, which we cannot accept.

“What was presented in the show offended France as a whole and provoked the feelings of everyone who respects humanity,” he added. 

For their part, the Olympics’ official X account described the ceremony instead as an interpretation of Ancient Greek mythology, emphasising that it aimed to show “the absurdity of violence between human beings”.

In contrast, a Greek social media user said the ceremony was “confusing, chaotic, tasteless, inappropriate, but most important offensive.”

Reports have also emerged from social media observers that, amid the furore, videos of the show are now systematically being expunged from the digital sphere due to the backlash it received.