Trump cemented his reputation as a cultural gnome by confusing the tableaux scene during the opening ceremony with the Last Supper after someone showed him a picture of the painting.
Trump was setup for an interview on the Ingram Angle on Fox TV about the Olympic ceremony. On being shown a picture of the Last Supper during preparation for the interview he was mortified, “That dude in the dress. That is so wrong. Very wrong”. After it was explained that the ‘dude in the dress’ was Christ he was a bit uncomfortable but went along with it.
Ingram chose to completely ignore the notes supplied by the Olympic organisers to broadcasters that explained that the tableaux scene was not based on Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper painting, but was a depiction of the Feast of the Gods featuring Dionysus – the blue guy. The connection of Greek gods to the Olympics, with their ancient Greek origins, obviously made sense. Of course it made more sense to conservatives to make something up to get their weird fans agitated.
Trump was horrified at the blue guy, Dionysus. No conservatives have managed to explain the presence of the blue guy in what they have chosen to promote as a depiction of the Last Supper painting. Dionysus is the Greek god of various things including wine-making, festivity and theatre.
Did the organisers come up with the Festival of the Gods explanation afterwards?
Many people have suggested that the organisers pivoted after the furore erupted. This is obviously not true. Many broadcasters gave commentaries obviously based on notes provided before the event. The BBC commentary team mentioned the Festival of the Gods and Dionysus in their coverage of the opening ceremony. Look at the clip at 2 hours 45 minutes in.