Thomas Jolly suggests imagining “a great spectacle” in the wake of the Olympic Games

Olympic ceremonies artistic director Thomas Jolly launched the idea on Wednesday of organizing “a great spectacle offered to the population” as “legacy” regular of the Paris Games this summer, before the Cultural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly. “A great show offered to the population, wouldn’t it be the moment?”he asked, responding to questions from MPs on “the legacy” who will remain of the Olympic Games, in particular of the ceremonies that he orchestrated on this occasion, some parliamentarians mentioning the date of “July 14”.

He also called for a new “great cultural policy”regretting that there is no “more talk about culture in election campaigns”while “The great powers have nevertheless relied on culture”Asked about the concentration of ceremonies in Paris, he also argued in favor of“a really great job” to restore the French taste for culture and theatre, particularly in rural areas. “Being able to go to the theater is a field to invest in”car “Desire is not extinguished. When it exists, the French know how to seize it”he added.

The director again denied having wanted to “mock” a particular religion, the Catholic religion, during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 26, which was welcomed but also strongly criticized throughout the world by mainly conservative and far-right voices. “You’re the only one talking about it.”Thomas Jolly said to a National Rally MP, Tiffany Joncour, who was questioning him on “the beheading of Marie Antoinette”in front of a young audience or the performance “shocking” of the Last Supper, Christ’s last meal with the apostles.

“If journalists and commentators have had erroneous interpretations, the problem is that they arouse hatred, how can we think that I could have mocked a religion when an entire painting is dedicated to Notre-Dame de Paris?”symbol of Christianity and the Catholic religion, he asked, recalling that a large majority of French people appreciated the opening ceremony. He also protested against “those little phrases that generate hatred and frenzy of commentary”considering that we “You cannot be political if you do not have the will to unify the city”.