Who is Philippe Katerine? All about the French musician at the center of the Paris Olympics Last Supper row

French musician and actor Philippe Katerine performed at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics on July 26 in Paris. However, his performance earned severe backlash for allegedly portraying the depictions of the Last Supper.

Philippe Katerine appeared scantily dressed wearing full blue body paint with gold dust, a floral headdress, and foliage spread across his body in the role of Dionysus, the Greek God of wine-making, vegetation, fertility, theater, festivity, and ecstasy. Dionysus is also believed to be the father of Sequana, the Goddess of the River Seine that flows through Paris.

He sat on a giant fruit platter placed on a long dinner table and sang his song Nu, as other performers including LGBTQ advocate, DJ, and producer Barbara Butch and over a dozen drag queens danced along.

The performance is allegedly deemed as a parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Philippe Katerine’s depiction of Dionysus has earned him comparisons to Smurf and Avatar among other characters.

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Everything to know about Philippe Katerine

Philippe Katerine was born Philippe Blanchard in Chantonnay, Vendee, France. He is a 55-year-old singer, songwriter, actor, artist, director, and writer. He is known for French singles including Mon Coeur Balance, Je Vous Emmerde, and Louxor J’adore among others.

Katerine has appeared in movies including the Joann Sfar-directed 2010 biopic Gainsbourg, A Heroic Life, 2011 offbeat comedy I Am A No Man’s Land, 2015 political drama Gaz de France, and more.

The father of three also won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 44th Cesar Award for his performance in Sink or Swim in 2019. He is also the founder of the 2022 artistic movement Le Mignonisme.

French actress Julie Depardieu has been Philippe’s spouse since 2010 and the pair shares two sons, Billy and Alfred. Previously, he was married to Helena Noguerra and they share a daughter, Edie, together.

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Philippe Katerine’s remarks about his Olympic inaugural performance and more

On Friday, at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics inaugural ceremony, Philippe Katerine appeared in the role of Dionysus and performed his famous song, Nu. A media guide of the performance described it as an effort to make people “aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings.”

However, the performance earned harsh criticisms from the Christian community worldwide, for allegedly insulting their faith. In the wake of the backlash, Philippe Katerine told French local TV station BFM on July 28:

“If there was no polemic it would not be fun, if everyone agreed it would be so boring on this earth!"

He further added how he found the “idea of inclusion very good” and claimed that choosing exclusion would be “horrible.” Katerine also mentioned how his performance gave him “a great joy.”

Later, Philippe also told Le Parisien newspaper on July 27, that he felt “super good” and “proud” of his performance, despite the controversy.

“I’m a bit of an exhibitionist. I suffered a lot and I loved it,” he said about his preparation before adding how the French culture was “full of different people” where everyone did their own thing and lived in their own way, and “above all, has the right to do so.”

Katerine also explained that he wrote Nu specially for the Olympics opening ceremony and wanted to send his message across. He said:

“If you’re n*ked, there’s no war because there are no weapons.”

Likewise, theater director Thomas Jolly who choreographed the performance clarified his vision during the daily briefing of the International Olympic Committee on Saturday. He claimed that the portrayal was not meant to “be subversive or shock people or mock people.”

Jolly also assured that Vinci’s The Last Supper was in no way his “inspiration” behind the performance while giving an interview to BFM on Sunday, July 28.

"The idea was to have a pagan celebration connected to the gods of Olympus. You will never find in me a desire to mock and denigrate anyone. I wanted a ceremony that brings people together, that reconciles, but also a ceremony that affirms our… values of liberty, equality, and fraternity," Jolly explained.

Meanwhile, Paris 2024 Summer Olympics organizers’ spokesperson Anne Descamps told the press over the weekend that "there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group” but rather promote “community tolerance.” She added that they were “really, really sorry” if people were offended.