Similar posts have circulated elsewhere on X in several languages, including Arabic, French and Portuguese.
Officials opened the Olympics on July 26 with an unprecedented parade on the Seine. But the racially diverse cast and the prominence given to women and LGBTQ performers aroused criticism from some conservatives, who dismissed it as “woke” — fueling a wave of misinformation online.
Backlash has focused largely on a live portrait featuring dancers, drag queens and a DJ posing in a way that some argue depicts the Last Supper.
Director Thomas Jolly denied drawing inspiration from Christian iconography, and Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters on July 28, 2024: “Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group … If people have taken any offense, we are, of course, really, really sorry.”
Still, some Catholic groups and French bishops have condemned what they saw as “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity.”
The video shared online, however, is unrelated to the opening ceremony — and AFP found no evidence of large demonstrations following the performance.
Reverse image and keyword searches surfaced several posts sharing the same video, including one from the official X account of the Notre Dame de Lourdes shrine on August 14, 2022 (archived here).
The French caption says: “Happy Assumption Day to all. In union of prayer with all the Catholics of the world. May the Virgin Mary shine in your hearts.”
An August 15, 2022 French article also includes a screenshot of the video (archived here). The headline translates to: “Lourdes: Thousands of Pilgrims Celebrate the Assumption.”
Every year, the town of Lourdes in the Hautes-Pyrénées celebrates the Assumption, a Christian religious feast marking the ascension of Mary, mother of Jesus, to Heaven.
More of AFP’s reporting on misinformation about the 2024 Olympics is available here.
