A performer from the Paris Olympics, whose controversial ‘blue scrotum’ act sparked a flurry of reactions online, has finally addressed the backlash.
On July 26, the 2024 Paris Olympics commenced with an elaborate opening ceremony, but it quickly became a topic of debate on social media.
While some people were dissatisfied with the sound quality of Lady Gaga’s performance, others were bewildered and even outraged by the sight of a singing ‘blue scrotum’ atop a platter of fruit.
The spectacle featured a man painted entirely in blue, singing while lying on a fruit platter, which prompted many viewers to express their opinions on Twitter.
“Who had seeing a blue scrotum on their Olympic opening ceremony bingo card. For teenagers of the 90s this is like Eurotrash the movie. Incroyable,” one user tweeted.
Another remarked: “Horrific.”
A third posed the question: “That supposed to be Zeus?”
While the performance left many puzzled, conservative viewers were particularly incensed, interpreting the act as a mockery of the Last Supper and, by extension, Christianity.
However, it has since been clarified what the singer’s costume and performance were meant to signify. Contrary to some speculations, he was not portraying Papa Smurf, Zeus, a scrotum, or making any reference to the Last Supper.
Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, clarified to BFM TV that the Last Supper was not his inspiration for the performance.
Instead, the singer was intended to represent Dionysus, the god of wine, festivity, religious ecstasy, and theatre. The surrounding food and drag queens were meant to signify a ‘big pagan festival linked to the gods of Olympus.’
Philippe Katerine, the actor and singer who portrayed Dionysus, also addressed the controversy in an interview with Le Parisien.
He explained: [Translation] “I wrote a song called ‘Nude’ and, while making it, I thought that for the Olympics, it would be good. During the first Olympic Games in Greece, the athletes were naked according to the representations of the time on engravings and vases. Nudity is really the very origin of the Games. At the beginning, they were naturist Olympics. So I sent my video, a little motivational tape to Thomas Jolly in February and he liked it.”
Katerine mentioned that he has ‘a bit of an exhibitionist’ streak and that the performance aligns with his ‘culture,’ something he is ‘proud’ of.
He concluded: “We’re full of different people and everyone lives their own way and, above all, has the right to do so. I loved doing it.”
“It’s the first time I sing this song, and I wanted to get my message across, which goes like this: ‘If we are naked, there is no war because there are no weapons.'”