Official footage of the Paris 2024 opening ceremony has been removed from the Olympics YouTube channel, amid criticism of the display on Friday night.
It was an epic opening ceremony in the French capital and certainly one which split opinion.
The athletes floated along the River Seine as they were introduced to the world, which did get a little tedious after a while.
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A string of sporting legends were involved in the production, with the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal and Nadia Comaneci on show.
However, it was the non-sporting performances that really got tongues wagging, with a string of unusual acts on display.
Among other wild acts, there was a memorable fashion show, an interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s the Last Supper which featured actor Phillippe Katerine performing as a blue-painted Greek god of wine Dionysus, a metal horse galloping down the Seine with the Olympic flag and a heavy metal performance from Gojira introduced by a headless Marie Antoinette.
All that appears to have been removed from the Olympics YouTube channel now, though, with ‘Video unavailable’ shown where the footage used to be.
Full-length versions of the London 2012, Rio 2016 and Beijing 2022 ceremonies are all still available to watch on the Olympics channel.
One of the complaints over the ceremony that it was ‘extremely disrespectful to Christians,’ according to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
American Catholic Bishop Robert Barron said in a video posted online: ‘I love the Olympics, so I turn on the opening ceremony of the Olympics. And what do I see now? It’s in Paris, France, a city I love, I spent three years as a doctoral student there.
‘I see this gross mockery of the last supper and I won’t describe it any further.’
The image of an actor in a blue body suit, portraying Dionysus emerging from a banquet table was something of a surprise, but the actor involved brushed off any criticism.
Katerine told BFM TV: ‘It wouldn’t be fun if there were no controversy. Wouldn’t it be boring if everyone agreed on this planet?’
Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet has defended the ceremony, saying: ‘We imagined a ceremony to show our values and our principles so we gave a very committed message.
‘The idea was to really trigger a reflection. We wanted to have a message as strong as possible.
‘Naturally we had to take into account the international community. Having said that – it is a French ceremony for the French games – so we trusted our artistic director.
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‘We have freedom of expression in France and we wanted to protect it.’
Gojira were widely praised as a highlight of the ceremony as they blasted out a metal version of ‘Ah! Ça Ira’ with the help of opera singer Marina Viotti.
‘Paris!!! Une experience inoubliable!’ Gojira posted on their Instagram account.
‘Once in a lifetime experience. Thank you Paris you looked good from up there!’
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