Getty/Heavy Candace Cameron Bure
After Candace Cameron Bure shared her feelings on the Olympics’ opening ceremony, she later doubled down with an Instagram post reasserting her views. A number of former and current Hallmark stars replied with their support for her statements or liked her post on Instagram.
In a series of Instagram Stories, Bure shared that she thought the opening ceremony was mocking her Christian faith. “Their interpretation of the Last Supper was disgusting,” she said in one video. She later added that Christians who weren’t bothered by the opening ceremony most likely need to hear the Gospel too.
Bure later posted on Instagram that many people were saying the scene in question was interpreting the festival of Dionysus, not The Last Supper.
“I still don’t see how that relates to unifying the world through competitive sports and acceptable for children to watch,” she wrote. “I’m not buying it.”
The artistic director for the opening ceremony, Thomas Jolly, said he didn’t intend to mock anyone, but rather wanted to show how diverse France is, Deadline reported.
Jolly later clarified that he was inspired by the Greek god Dionysus and not Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting, Today reported.
“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,” Jolly said.
Jen Lilley & Carlos PenaVega Wrote Supportive Replies
Former Hallmark stars Jen Lilley and Carlos PenaVega, who are both now making movies with Great American Family, spoke out in support of Bure’s post.
“I love you and I’m so proud of you for posting this ❤️❤️❤️,” Lilley wrote.
PenaVega replied with supportive emoji: “👏👏👏👏👏🔥🔥🔥.”
Both comments got replies both supporting and disagreeing with them. One person told Lilley: “@jen_lilley im proud of both of you !!!!!!!!!!” But a different person replied, “yeah but that’ performance had nothing to do with the last supper perhaps you should read about French history it was a French cultural thing and we don’t get to dictate to France.”
In response to PenaVega’s support, one person wrote: ” we need more celebrities like you, @candacecbure and others to be more vocal. It’s sad what this world, especially this country has come to with the mockery of religion. 👏👏”
But others disagreed. One person replied,”it wasn’t about the last super. It was based on a painting of the Greek gods. Because it IS the Olympics.”
Haylie Duff commented, “Amen!” She’s starred in two Hallmark movies: “Sweet Surrender” in 2014 and “Holiday Engagement” in 2011.
Several Current Hallmark Stars Liked Her Post
Several current Hallmark stars “hearted” her post without leaving a comment. Among them were Kristoffer Polaha and Warren Christie. However, since they didn’t leave comments, it’s not known for certain their motivations for liking the post.
Christie recently starred in Hallmark’s “Holiday Road,” which just premiered in 2023. According to IMDb, he also starred in Hallmark’s “The More Love Grows” in 2023, “Crashing Through the Snow” in 2021, “If I Only Had Christmas” in 2020, “The Color of Rain” in 2014, and more.
Polaha and Lacey Chabert will be starring in a Christmas movie together later this year. He also just starred in the popular 2023 Christmas movie, “A Biltmore Christmas,” and made a cameo appearance in “Haul Out the Holly.”
A few former Hallmark stars also liked Bure’s post, including Cameron Mathison, Laura Osnes and Alexa PenaVega.
While Bure was concerned about the opening ceremony, she also shared in her videos that she doesn’t plan to boycott the Olympics.
“As far as the games go, do what you want to do,” she said in a sixth Instagram story. “You want to boycott? Boycott the games. I’m going to watch the games. I want to support the athletes. There are a lot of great Christian athletes competing as well. But I want to cheer them on. I want to see God getting the glory.”
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