No, the Sphere in Las Vegas did not display an image of the Virgin Mary on her birthday. It was fake.
Mexican and Mexican-American churches honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe (known as the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mary, and mother of Jesus) each year on December 12. It is a day of birthday celebration that commemorates the appearance of Virgin Mary to the Mexican peasant, Juan Diego, in 1531.
Festivities typically include a special rosary, musical tributes, and a midnight mass. A feast is often involved as well.
Around the same time that celebrations got underway across North and South America, multiple videos started to go viral on TikTok. They appeared to show a celebration of the Virgin Mary on the Sphere.
The Sphere’s 580,000-square foot exosphere is coated with a 16K LED display and lit up the sky. Nearly 1.2 million LED pucks make up the display. They are spaced eight inches apart. Each puck contains 38 LED diodes. Each diode can display 256 million colors.
Video of the Virgin Mary display would have required a very high-tech digital team to create. It would have cost approximately $400/450,000 to run, based off of the venue’s outrageous advertising cost.
Neither of those two things were necessary. The video was doctored and was not real.
Unfortunately, because of its religious affiliation, the fake viral clip made quite the splash online. A large group of Mexican and Mexican-Americans were thrilled to see such a profound image be displayed on the world’s most captivating venue. Others were furious to see what they considered a religious statement.
In the end, the chatter back and forth about the “controversial” Las Vegas video was for nothing. All of the outrage was unneeded. All of those who were touched by the display will be let down.