"Divine intervention" — Netizens react to footage of alleged power cut in Paris, with only Sacre-Coeur church lit up, after Olympics opening ceremony

A rumored power outage happened in Paris just 24 hours after the controversial 2024 Olympics opening ceremony on Friday, July 26. While netizens shared several photos of the outage, the same hasn't been confirmed by official sources.

The videos and photos uploaded on social media showed the city in complete darkness when the electrical disruption reportedly happened. Netizens further flooded the internet and began suggesting possible reasons behind the alleged outage.

While some claimed that the constant rain in the city caused the outage, others described the rumored power cut as "divine intervention." This speculation came after many people considered Thomas Jolly's Olympics opening ceremony act, which allegedly resembled The Last Supper, to be "blasphemous".

Netizens further claimed that during the rumored power outage, only the Sacre-Coeur church was lit.

"During the power outage in Paris, notice the thing that’s still fully lit: Sacre Coeur Church..." another person wrote.

"Divine irony! Even in a blackout, the light of faith shines brightest. The woke Olympics can’t dim this beacon of hope," one netizen said

"PARIS OUTAGE... Light only at the Sacre Coeur church. We cannot make this up!" another netizen wrote

Several other X posts were made where netizens accused the Olympic authorities of "blasphemy" and described the outage as "God's wrath."

"The irony of an electrical power outage in Paris in the wake of the blasphemous & debauched opening ceremonies of the Olympics should be noted," one person said.

"Parts of Paris are experiencing total blackouts tonight, the reason is still unknown. God had enough with the Olympics satanism..." another person commented

"On top of these power outages, Paris was one of the only places in Europe where it was raining last night. Even in Britain there was no rain," one netizen added.

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A rumored power outage disrupted the city of Paris shortly after the Olympics opening ceremony

Several incidents have been taking place in Paris since the beginning of the 2024 Olympics. The city already faced massive rainfall and while some claimed that the alleged electrical disruption happened due to continuous rains, others blamed the individuals responsible for "vandalizing" the railway network of the city, which was caused by alleged arson attacks.

On Saturday, about 10 high-speed trains were canceled after a series of alleged "arson attacks" on the rail networks. Specialized fiber optic cables essential for the safe functioning of the rail network were cut and set on fire as per the officials. According to BBC on July 27, the transport minister claimed that the services should go back to normal on Monday.

Meanwhile, SNCF, the national rail company of France, considered the attack on the rail system as a "coordinated sabotage" of the city's infrastructure. As of now, nobody has taken responsibility for the attacks. However, the authorities were looking into it as something more than just mere acts of vandalism.

This series of events took place after the much-talked-about and criticized opening ceremony act. The US Catholic Bishop Robert Barron also criticized the act and said:

"I love the Olympics, so I turn on the opening ceremony of the Olympics. This ceremony has unfortunately included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we very deeply deplore. And what do I see now? It's in Paris, France, a city I love, I spent three years as a doctoral student there."

He added:

"It's presented through this gross or flippant mockery. France which used to be called the oldest daughter of the church."

Barron further described the act as a "gross mockery of the Last Supper." Apart from the controversial act, many attendees didn't like the heavy-metal band Gojira's performance after the band performed the French Revolution song Ah! Ca Ira.

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Olympics organizers apologized for the opening ceremony act which allegedly resembled The Last Supper

After the act that saw the alleged recreation of The Last Supper, netizens flooded the internet and expressed their dissatisfaction. The organizers meanwhile apologized to anybody who took offense due to the act. Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said:

"Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think (with) Thomas Jolly, we really did try to celebrate community tolerance."

Thomas Jolly also spoke to the Associated Press on July 28 and claimed that his intention was not to shock or offend anyone.