‘Mocking Jesus’: Tate brothers and protesters storm French embassy after controversial Olympic ceremony move

Controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate is among protesters slamming the Paris Olympic Ceremony for ‘mocking Jesus’.         

The self-described misogynist, who is stuck in Romania as he awaits trial on charges of human trafficking and rape, took to the streets outside the embassy in Bucharest on Sunday.

In a post on X, Tate wrote: “I am protesting outside of the French embassy for mocking Jesus during the Olympic ceremony.”

“The police are threatening to arrest me for unlawful assembly. I am currently on bail, and will face a minimum of three months in prison. I do this as a Muslim. WHERE ARE THE CHRISTIANS?”

In a separate post, the 37-year-old declared he was boycotting the Olympics, writing: “I will watch NOTHING”.

Tate was joined by his brother Tristan and a small group of protesters who held up homemade placards with the words “Stand up for Christianity” and “Boycott the Olympics”.

The protest was in response to a controversial scene during the opening ceremony which critics claimed was a deliberate attempt to “mock and deride” Christianity.

Olympics organisers issue apology

Olympics organisers have since issued an apology for any offence caused during the opening ceremony but denied “any intention to show disrespect to any religious group.”

“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group,” Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters on Sunday.

“If people have taken any offence, we are of course really, really sorry,” she added.

Theatre director Thomas Jolly, who choreographed the four-hour opening ceremony, denied taking inspiration from the Last Supper.

“The idea was to do a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus,” Mr Jolly told the BFM channel on Sunday.

“You’ll never find in my work any desire to mock or denigrate anyone. I wanted a ceremony that brings people together, that reconciles, but also a ceremony that affirms our Republican values of liberty, equality and fraternity,”

Choreographer denies Last Supper reference

The mastermind of the ambitious Paris Olympics opening ceremony rejected criticism his boundary-breaking show had gone too far, saying it had created a “cloud of tolerance” and denying any reference to the Last Supper that angered the Church.

Theatre director and opening ceremony choreographer Thomas Jolly, 42, denied taking inspiration from the Last Supper in his nearly four-hour production, which took place in driving rain along the River Seine.

“The idea was to do a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus,” Jolly told the BFM channel.

“You’ll never find in my work any desire to mock or denigrate anyone. I wanted a ceremony that brings people together, that reconciles, but also a ceremony that affirms our Republican values of liberty, equality and fraternity,” he added.

“I have the impression of floating on a cloud of tolerance, love and shared joy. That was the objective of the ceremony,” he added.

Social media sleuths meanwhile suggested the sequence was inspired by the painting “The Feast of the Gods”, by the 17th century Dutch master Jan Harmensz van Bijlert.Performer Katerine also brushed off the controversy, telling BFM “if there was no polemic it would not be fun, if everyone agreed it would be so boring on this earth!” But he added: “I found his idea of inclusion very good. We are not going to choose exclusion, that would be horrible... it was to be honest a great joy.”