The French singer Philip Catherine, who caused a sensation at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in July when he appeared as “Dionysus”, half-naked and painted blue, today Thursday appeared … naked on the radio.

Katerin will present from today and every Thursday a weekly, humorous show on the public radio station France Inter. The video that shows him naked in the studio provoked various comments on social networking sites.

The station said that Katerin, who is “known to his listeners” after presenting in 2015 another show, “La langue a l’oreille”, will have a “blank check (…) with the quirkiness and unpredictability that make him characterize”.

At its premiere, in a human outfit, he performed – what else? – the song “Naked” (Nu) as he had done in July in front of more than 1 billion TV viewers. “I can’t sing this song dressed up,” explained the 55-year-old artist, known for his provocative style and eccentricities.

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Today’s show was an opportunity for Katerin to comment with humor on the criticism he received for his “performance” as Dionysus.

“They made me sweet in China (…) A woman of a certain age who said to her face that ehI am the shame of France (…) but in general people showed me love, I have to say, they were telling me ‘well done, well done for the Olympics’ as if I had won the gold medal,” he said.

The panel in which Philip Caterin participated in the opening ceremony shocked conservative circles, far-right parties and some church circles who thought it was an out-of-place and out-of-time ironic look at the Last Supper. Art director Thomas Zoli clarified that he wanted to show “a great, pagan celebration dedicated to the Gods of Olympus.”

“I’m so sorry if this comes as a shockwell (…) it was not in my intentions”, said Philip Caterin in an interview he gave to the American television network CNN, underlining that he too was raised with Christian ideals and that “the beautiful thing about this religion is forgiveness”.

However, his appearance was apparently liked in China where the singer acquired the nickname “the artist smurf” and inspired sketches or sculptural effigies of him from marzipan.