Actor and comedian Rob Schneider is under fire for his opinion on the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony and calls to boycott this year's Games.
Schneider was one of many celebrities to call out a segment during the opening ceremony held on July 26. Critics including Schneider called the event disrespectful to Christianity for the themes it featured. In response, some on social media have used resurfaced videos of the actor to point out that he has appeared in drag for many roles and TV appearances, and starred in a comedy movie about Satan's sons, Little Nicky.
Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony
The divisive portion of the opening ceremony featured DJ Barbara Butch playing music as performers from a range of genders, ages and abilities danced on a giant catwalk across the Debilly Footbridge over the River Seine.
The opening shot of the segment saw Butch dressed as a goddess and had models draped alongside her, which some people alleged looked like Leonardo da Vinci's painting, The Last Supper. The iconic artwork depicts Jesus and his disciples on the night before he was crucified, leading many to slam it as an affront to Christianity. The organizers have said the scene was a depiction of a pagan feast and the show's artistic director denied he had been inspired by the 15th century painting.
Schneider's Views
"I am sorry to say to ALL the world's GREATEST ATHLETES, I wish you ALL THE BEST, but I cannot watch an Olympics that disrespects Christianity and openly celebrates Satan. I sincerely hope THESE@Olympics get the same amount of viewers as @cspan," the Deuce Bigalow actor wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Schneider, who converted to Catholicism last year, is known for his comedy films with outlandish characters, and following his post about the Olympics people pointed out what they believed to be a contradiction in his opinion.
"Rob Schneider has an entire movie where he cross dresses and Candace Cameron Bure has an episode of Full House where Danny and Joey cross dress. Almost every sitcom of the 90's had one of these episodes. Hollywood never had a problem stepping on their backs as a joke but now," wrote @themitsarin on X, referring to Full House actress, Cameron Candace Bure also slamming the opening ceremony.
"Didn't he do a whole movie in drag, where he was pretending to be a teenage girl?" posted @georebekah.
The movie in question is The Hot Chick where Schneider's character swaps body with actress Rachel McAdams's character.
Online content creator, Mike Dro, shared photos of Schneider dressed in drag during late-night TV appearances and for movie roles. Dro posted a screenshot of a line by Schneider's character in Little Nicky.
"Rob Schneider has dressed up as a woman for TV and movies, played a man who swapped places with a woman in a movie, and appeared in a comedy movie about the son of satan," he captioned the post.
Newsweek contacted Schneider's representatives by email for comment.
Paris Olympics Response to Controversy
A spokesperson for Paris 2024 previously told Newsweek that the opening ceremony's director, Thomas Jolly, "has said on several occasions, the opening ceremony has been conceived as a celebration of togetherness and tolerance."
The spokesperson said that if some people "felt offended by certain scenes, it was totally unintentional, and we are really sorry."
"Thomas Jolly also explained that the scene...depicts a great pagan feast in which the gods of Olympus take part. In the foreground is the god of wine - father of Sequana, goddess of the Seine - portrayed in a comic way by the singer Philippe Katerine," the spokesperson said.
"Regarding The Last Supper: everyone is free to see in this work the references of their choice, but there is only one intention: the one of the artistic director."
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