EGN NEWS DESK
The Paris Summer Olympic Games kicked off on Friday with the opening ceremony, which made historical past as the primary Olympic ceremony to be held exterior a stadium. Thousands of spectators watched the ceremony from the banks of the Seine, and much more tuned in from all over the world. The ceremony was filled with aptitude and emotion, but in addition some, properly, wacky moments that bewildered and amused many viewers.
Here are a number of the weirdest moments from the opening ceremony.
A masked particular person carries the torch
The opening ceremony started with a pre-recorded video of French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane carrying the well-known Olympic torch and working by the streets of Paris, earlier than passing it off to a gaggle of youngsters. But quickly after, a masked particular person took the torch from the kids. As the ceremony continued, the published lower forwards and backwards to the mysterious determine as they leaped and climbed and ran by the town.
The masked particular person wore a darkish jacket and pants, with a darkish masks akin to a fencing masks, and a white hood. Viewers started evaluating the torch bearer to a personality from the online game collection Assassin’s Creed—a lot in order that the online game was trending on X at one level on Friday, with greater than 21,000 posts. Ubisoft, the creator of the online game collection, leaned into the comparisons, posting a photograph from one of many video games that was set in revolution-era France with the caption, “Welcome to Paris.”
The id of the mysterious determine hasn’t been revealed, however some viewers spent the length of the opening ceremony speculating on who could possibly be behind the masks.
“If this masked torchbearer isn’t revealed to be Celine Dion then what are we even doing,” one particular person posted on X, previously Twitter. (The French Canadian singer ended up closing the opening ceremony with a shifting efficiency—her first public efficiency since 2020. In 2022, Dion introduced that she was affected by a uncommon neurological illness known as stiff particular person syndrome.)
One particular person on X joked that the torch bearer could be the primary character from Emily in Paris, the Netflix tv present about an American who strikes to France’s capital.
Marie Antoinette will get beheaded… once more
Queen Marie Antoinette was beheaded throughout the French Revolution that led to the overthrowing of the French monarchy. And that 18th century Queen of France made an look on the 2024 Games. As the French heavy-metal band Gojira performed, the Queen’s physique held her head in her arms—after which the digital camera panned to a number of others headless Marie Antoinettes.
The Olympics teases a ménage à trois on community tv
The opening ceremony continued with a pre-recorded video of three folks sporting psychedelic-like outfits who wandered over to an residence and engaged in a sensual scene—earlier than one in all them closed the door on the digital camera, shutting out the viewers watching all over the world.
Many folks joked about how the sultry scene performed into French stereotypes.
“Are they displaying a threesome as a french contribution to society???” one particular person posted on X.
Minions steal the Mona Lisa
At one level throughout the opening ceremony, a pre-recorded video panned to the Louvre Museum, revealing that the long-lasting Mona Lisa portray had been stolen. The culprits? Minions.
The minions from the Despicable Me franchise then made their debut on the ceremony, enjoying a number of the sports activities featured within the Summer Olympics, like boxing and archery, in a submarine. At one level, they by accident destroyed their submarine and ended up within the water—and the Mona Lisa (by video enhancing, not the precise Mona Lisa) could be seen floating within the Seine.
Viewers instantly took to social media.
The animation manufacturing firm behind the minions, Illumination Studios, is headquartered in Paris.
A blue Dionysus dances
During the opening ceremony, a gaggle of performers gathered for a style show-like efficiency. At one level, French singer and actor Philippe Katerine—whose pores and skin was painted blue and who was coated in flowers and leaves, representing the Greek god Dionysus—appeared on the runway on a big plate of fruit and flowers. He proceeded to bounce and sing in French.
Some viewers have been just a little confused by the efficiency.
