GB News star Eamonn Holmes has branded the Olympics opening ceremony a “load of pretentious rubbish” in a scathing verdict.
Organisers have been forced to apologise after scenes during Friday’s celebrations caused offence.
A banquet sequence featuring drag artists came in for criticism from Christian groups, who felt it parodied Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ painting.
Speaking to showbiz reporter Kinsey Schofield, Eamonn did not hold back.
Eamonn Holmes hit out at the Olympics opening ceremony
GB NEWS / OLYMPICS
“What a load of pretentious rubbish”, he fumed.
Schofield responded: “it was wild and it made no sense to me. It was all over the place.
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“Could you guys focus a little bit? A lot of Christians are speaking out over a scene they felt depicted Leonardi da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’.”
Eamonn’s co-host, Ellie Costello, highlighted the apology put forward by organisers.
Ellie said it was a sign they “have regrets”, adding: “It’s a Catholic country, isn’t it? It’s so surprising that at no point during the rehearsals, someone didn’t say ‘this could be very disrespectful to any Christians’.”
Lady Gaga delivered a performance during the ceremony which Eamonn also felt was not up to scratch.
Kinsey Schofield was also critical of the opening ceremony
GB NEWS
“I didn’t know what she was singing about”, he said.
“She looked very well and it was all very nice. I tell you what, I would have stayed with it to wait for Celine Dion, but I didn’t.
“Three hours of that? I’m not sure.”
Ellie admitted that she did continue watching the ceremony to catch Celine Dion’s comeback performance.
The opening ceremony failed to captivate viewersGETTYThe 56-year-old singer closed out the celebrations with her first performance since she announced her diagnosis with stiff-person syndrome in 2022.
The GB News star was full of praise for the display, saying it “blew her socks off”.
Schofield added: “This was her first public performance since announcing her diagnosis with stiff person syndrome.
“This resulted in high emotions, people on the streets were sobbing.
“Kelly Clarkson was completely emotional on the broadcast, calling Celine Dion a ‘vocal athlete’. This is a triumphant time for her, her brand new documentary became Amazon Prime’s all-time most popular documentary last week.”
Speaking out on the ceremonies’ controversies, its artistic director, Thomas Jolly, insisted there was no intention to “mock or denigrate anyone” and said the scene in question was designed to reference pagan gods.
"Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group," Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters on Sunday.
"On the contrary, I think Thomas Jolly did try to intend to celebrate community tolerance. We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence, we of course are really sorry."
