"Gaines for Girls" podcaster Riley Gaines ripped as "blasphemous" the parody of the Last Supper at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Friday, performed by drag queens.
Gaines, the former University of Kentucky swimmer who has advocated against transgender women (biological men) competing in women's sports, also dismissed the "conditional" apologies delivered by Olympic organizers.
"I feel heartbroken for the Olympic athletes (many of which are friends) who trained their entire lives to compete on that stage but will now have significantly fewer eyes watching and admiring because of the satanic, blasphemous display put on by the Olympic organizers," Gaines wrote in a post on X on Sunday.
Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said Sunday that organizers are sorry "if people have taken any offense," adding there was no intent "to show disrespect for any religious group."
"They're not sorry. Sincere apologies aren't conditional. There's no accountability or responsibility in saying 'IF you were offended,'" Gaines wrote in a separate post.
Barbara Butch, the lesbian who appeared with the Jesus halo from Leonardo Da Vinci's painting of "The Last Supper," called the parody the "The New Gay Testament" in a post to Instagram before deleting it. That came amid creative director Thomas Jolly saying "The Last Supper" was not his inspiration.
"You know, there were children in that display. So here you have men pretending to be women, children up there. And what are they doing? The most sacred moment of the Last Supper is turned into a mockery, and a scene to express appreciation for perversion. It was horrible," Rev. Gerald Murray, pastor of Manhattan's Church of the Holy Family, told Newsmax on Monday.
The Last Supper, the event of which was painted by Da Vinci in the 15th century, was the final meal Jesus shared with his disciples in Jerusalem before his crucifixion, according to the Gospel of John.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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