Complaint
A viewer endorsed the criticisms of those (including the Vatican) who understood a grouping of performers shown during the ceremony to be a parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper which ridiculed the convictions of Christians. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of harm and offence, with particular reference to the treatment of religion.
Outcome
The ECU noted the event organisers had explained that the grouping had in fact been based on Jan van Bijlert’s painting Le Festin Des Dieux. As it occurred in a sequence introduced by the BBC commentator as “a fashion show going on up there showing the works of young French designers from French court to haute couture to ready to wear prêt-à-porter in the 1960s” the ECU considered it unlikely that viewers in general would have understood it as a parody of the Last Supper and found no breach of the BBC’s editorial standards.
Not upheld