Netizens furious over Paris Olympics opening ceremony: ‘Disrespectful, garbage’

The Paris Olympics opening ceremony for the 33rd Olympic Games on Friday turned France's capital into a colossal amphitheatre, and the iconic river Seine served as a track for the athletes' parade. The ceremony began with the six-kilometre-long ‘Parade of Nations’ during which athletes from 205 countries and one refugee team sailed down the Seine on boats despite heavy rain. Several artistes, including American pop superstar Lady Gaga, performed at the event. Netizens slam Paris Olympics opening ceremony(X/@Scipionista)

According to the event organisers, the ceremony is the “biggest in the Olympic Games history,” with more than 300,000 people watching on the banks of the Seine and billions tuned in on television.

However, some of the acts at the ceremony, such as - the recreation of Jesus Christ's ‘The Last Soup’, the beheading of Mary Antoinette, and Philippe Katerine's depiction of Dionosys, the God of Wine, sparked a massive controversy on social media, with Netizens calling the ceremony “disrespectful” and “absolute garbage”.

“I’m truly speechless. So disrespectful towards many athletes from other nations at the #OlympicGames,” one of the X (formerly Twitter) users wrote.

Another user wrote: “They are literally mocking The Last Supper, and majority of France are followers of Christ.”

Cricket presenter Alan Wilkins slammed the event as the “worst ever” opening ceremony.

“Is this the worst-ever opening ceremony of an Olympic Games? Absolute garbage to deliver to a global audience,” Alan Wilkins wrote on X.

“I hate to say this but even the one at London Olympics was tons better than this,” one of the users said.

Another said, “The WORST period, so chaotic, messy, bland and boring. No passion at all, bunch of robots would have done better.”

Meanwhile, some of the users said that while the ideas behind the acts were good, the execution was bad.

“Paris is a little too self obsessed. I really think, the idea is not bad at all showing a bit about the host city, but it shouldn't be the main event, which is the case here. At least from tomorrow, it's all about the sports and the athletes. Hopefully,” a user wrote.

French singer and actor Philippe Katerine's bizarre performance in which he was seen lying on a giant fruit platter, semi-naked with blue pain, and gold dust on his body, received a major backlash. According to Netizens, a “viewer discretion” was needed during the ceremony.

Notably, this is the third time Paris is hosting the Olympics after 1900 and 1924. India is being represented by 117 athletes, including 47 women, in the sporting spectacle.

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