July 30th 2024.
Islam Makhachev, the current UFC lightweight champion, was not impressed with the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. In fact, he found it to be quite "disgusting" and it completely turned him off from attending the event. He's not the only one who has expressed their disappointment with the controversial ceremony, as even well-known figures like Elon Musk and Donald Trump have spoken out against it. Musk even went as far as to call it "extremely disrespectful to Christians", while Trump deemed it to be a "disgrace".
One of the main points of contention was the performance featuring drag artists, which some saw as a mockery of Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting, The Last Supper. However, the artistic director of the ceremony, Thomas Jolly, clarified that it was not meant to reference the painting and instead was meant to be a "big pagan party" celebrating the gods of Olympus. He also stated that his intention was to bring people together and promote values of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
Despite Jolly's explanation, Makhachev was not convinced. In a strong reaction posted on social media, he called the Paris Games a "shame and dark stain on Olympic movement" and suggested that the event should be brought back to Russia to "fix everything". When asked to elaborate on his opinion, Makhachev expressed that he found the ceremony to be disrespectful towards all religions and human values in general.
He even initially planned on attending the Olympics, but after seeing the opening ceremony, he no longer has any desire to do so. Instead, he has chosen to follow the event through The Agency's live blog for updates and results. When asked why he believes Russia would be better suited to host the Olympics, Makhachev stated that Russia knows how to properly organize and value athletes and sports, whereas the opening ceremony in Paris had nothing to do with sports.
In response to the backlash, Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps stated that there was never any intention to disrespect any religious group and that the artistic director's goal was to celebrate tolerance and unity. However, she did apologize if anyone was offended by the ceremony.
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