What's the only thing worse than no apology at all? A so-called apology that blames people for taking offense. Offering up a lie to gaslight the offended makes it even worse. American political figures often offer these "I'm sorry you were offended by my brilliance" non-apologies and end up making matters worse, although these days they don't tend to give a hoot one way or the other. 

If you missed this example of typical hard-Left elitist sneering at the normies, here's one report on it from over the weekend:

Almost as soon as it aired, outraged viewers began posting the clip to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media platforms. It generated so much criticism of the French organizers that the IOC began issuing DMCA notices to force platforms to remove the videos and pictures used to criticize them. When that didn't work, the organizers of the Paris Olympics tried a non-apology apology yesterday for their drag version of the Last Supper during their opening ceremonies. They used the usual "sorry if you were offended" and claimed that the similarity to Da Vinci's masterpiece was completely unintentional. In fact, they claimed that the intention was to be "inclusive," and the entire tableau was meant to be patterned on some Feast of the Gods concept and not any religious theme:

Er ... suuuuure, pals. The problem with this explanation is that its star -- "Barbara Butch" -- openly bragged about making the display into a "The Gay New Testament." Butch later tried to delete it and adopt the new party line at the Paris Olympics, but the Internet is forever:

Barbara Butch, the woman in the center, posted this photo to her instagram, admitting that this photo had everything to do with them mocking the scriptures.

She then deleted it a few hours later and called it “the feast of the Gods”.

Nope. Caught. pic.twitter.com/IhyREuYlU5

— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) July 28, 2024

In other words, Anne Descamps flat-out lied yesterday. More than that, she insulted the intelligence of all those offended by this anti-Christian exercise in French snobbery and International Olympics Committee complicity. (The less said about Thomas Jolly's smug non-apology in the latter half of the video, the better.)

But don't take my word for it. Bishop Robert Barron, a well-known Catholic media figure from Word On Fire as well as the head of the Winona-Rochester diocese in Minnesota, had decided to let the matter drop after his initial criticism of the skit. After hearing Descamp's dishonest non-apology apology, Barron issued a new statement calling it a "masterpiece of woke duplicity":

Catholic @BishopBarron to @Olympics:
“This is anything but an apology, in fact it is a masterpiece of “woke” duplicity!” https://t.co/HDDKCK7cPG pic.twitter.com/T0HFmbhVVJ

— Bree A Dail (@breeadail) July 28, 2024

Barron took special aim at the sneering attitude still present in Descamps' statement, and not just in her absurd claim to have wanted "tolerance" and "inclusivity." They mocked the faith of 2.6 billion people, Barron reminds us, but the idea that Christians should not have taken offense is even more absurd. "Christians were offended because it was offensive," Barron declares, "and it was intended to be offensive. Please don't patronize us," Barron continued, "with this condescending remark that 'well, if you had any bad feelings, we're awfully sorry about it'."

Barron scoffs at the idea that Christians will take this bad-faith (heh) apology and tune back into Descamps' S***show On the Seine. One US sponsor, tech platform C Spire, has already pulled its support:

We were shocked by the mockery of the Last Supper during the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics. C Spire will be pulling our advertising from the Olympics.

— C Spire (@CSpire) July 27, 2024

Good. Let's follow up by pulling our own support by finding other entertainment to watch the next couple of weeks, and tell the remaining sponsors why we won't be watching their ads. Make them choose between their customers and their elitist aspirations. Give them the Bud Light treatment on steroids.

C Spire chose wisely. Will everyone else?

Addendum: Glenn Reynolds diagnoses this perfectly: 

There were efforts to defend the debacle, but the truth is revealed by the airbrushing that followed, as the sponsors initiated a massive takedown effort, using copyright claims to get videos of the ceremony struck from services like YouTube and X.  If they thought their work was good, why would they hide it?

Well, because it stunk.  And – and this is the most important part – it was designed to stink. Lousy culture like this is a power statement (“look what we can get away with!”) and also a convenient benchmark:  One needs little in the way of talent to produce such an exhibition. Chutzpah will do.

Why was it designed to stink? Again, power. A friend pointed out that the only good recent Olympic opening ceremonies were in Sochi, Russia, and in Beijing. Those governments, whatever their many flaws, wanted to present a positive message about their nations and their cultures to the world. They wanted to portray themselves as rising powers, full of cultural vigor.

Ceremonies like the Paris opener, on the other hand, are intended to do just the opposite. They are intended to mock and denigrate the underlying Western culture, which even atheists like Richard Dawkins admit is Christian. This, we’re told, is “brave.” Or they pretend surprise that anyone is offended, but as the French say, “ils sont toujours au courant,” meaning “they’re always aware.”

Precisely. The sneering was the point, and that's why they're still sneering. They hate Western culture and anything connected to it. They want to replace it with the display we saw, and now they want to pretend that its ugliness is a message of "inclusivity." It's not; it's the same kind of nihilism that empty souls and culture express when they have nothing else to offer.