TThe Paris Summer Olympics kicked off on Friday with the opening ceremony, which made history as the first Olympic ceremony held outside a stadium. Thousands of spectators watched the ceremony on the banks of the Seine, and even more spectators from all over the world. The ceremony was full of talent and emotion, but also some crazy moments that confused and amused many spectators.
Here are some of the weirdest moments from the opening ceremony.
A masked individual carries the torch
The opening ceremony began with a pre-recorded video of French football legend Zinedine Zidane carrying the famous Olympic torch and running through the streets of Paris, before handing it over to a group of children. But soon after, a masked man took the torch from the children. As the ceremony continued, the broadcast switched to the mysterious figure as they jumped, climbed and ran through the city.
The masked man wore a dark jacket and pants, with a dark mask similar to a fencing mask and a white hood. Viewers began comparing the torchbearer to a character from the video game series Assassin’s Creed–so much so that the video game was trending on X at one point on Friday, with more than 21,000 posts. Ubisoft, creator of the video game series, relied on comparisons, posting a photo from one of the games set in revolution-era France with the caption “Welcome to Paris.”
The identity of the mysterious figure was not revealed, but some spectators spent the entire opening ceremony speculating about who could be behind the mask.
“If this masked torchbearer is not revealed to be Celine Dion, then what are we doing,” one person posted in X, formerly Twitter. (The French-Canadian singer ended the opening ceremony with a moving performance – her first public performance since 2020. In 2022, Dion announced that she suffered from a rare neurological disease called stiff person syndrome.)
A person in X joked that the torchbearer could be the main character of Emily in Paristhe Netflix television show about an American who moves to the capital of France.
Marie Antoinette is beheaded… again
Queen Marie Antoinette was beheaded during the French Revolution which led to the overthrow of the French monarchy. And that 18th-century Queen of France appeared at the 2024 Games. As French heavy metal band Gojira played, the Queen’s body held her head in her hands — and then the camera turned to several other headless Marie Antoinettes.
The Olympics provoke a ménage à trois on network television
The opening ceremony continued with a pre-recorded video of three people wearing psychedelic outfits who wandered into an apartment and engaged in a sensual scene – before one of them closed the camera door, cutting off spectators watching around the world. .
Many people joked about how the sensual scene influenced French stereotypes.
“Are they showing a threesome as a French contribution to society???” A person posted in X.
Minions steal the Mona Lisa
At one point during the opening ceremony, a pre-recorded video was directed to the Louvre Museum, revealing that the iconic Mona Lisa painting had been stolen. The culprits? Minions.
The minions of My favorite evil The franchise then made its debut at the ceremony, practicing some of the sports featured in the Olympics, such as boxing and archery, in a submarine. At one point, they accidentally destroy their submarine and end up in the water – and the Mona Lisa (via video editing, not the real Mona Lisa) can be seen floating in the Seine.
Viewers immediately took to social media.
The animation production company behind Minions Lighting Studiosis based in Paris.
A blue Dionysus dances
During the opening ceremony, a group of artists gathered for a fashion show-like performance. At one point, the French singer and actor Filipe Katerine—whose skin was painted blue and covered in flowers and leaves, representing the Greek god Dionysus—appeared on the catwalk on a large plate of fruits and flowers. He started dancing and singing in French.
Some viewers were a little confused by the performance.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
