Claim that Home Depot pulled Olympics sponsorship stems from satire

"Home Depot Ends 30-Year Olympic Sponsorship: 'Our Customers Would Never Forgive Us," says text in an image shared July 30, 2024 on Facebook.

The post juxtaposes a photo of a performer holding a microphone with one of a Home Depot storefront. The caption says: "Home Depot is the 9th American company to pull out of the Olympics over their blasphemous opening ceremony."

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Screenshot of a Facebook post taken August 1, 2024

Similar posts spread elsewhere on Facebook and X, including in Spanish.

Officials opened the Olympics on July 26 with an unprecedented parade on the Seine. The diverse cast and prominence given to women and LGBTQ performers aroused criticism from some conservatives who dismissed it as "woke" -- fueling a wave of misinformation online.

The backlash has focused on a live portrait featuring dancers, drag queens and a DJ posing in a way that some argue depicts the Last Supper, prompting some Catholic groups and French bishops to condemn what they viewed as "scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity."

Artistic director Thomas Jolly denied drawing inspiration from Christian iconography, and Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters on July 28: "Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group ... If people have taken any offense, we are, of course, really, really sorry."

AFP has debunked claims that Samsung pulled its Olympics sponsorship over the fracas. The posts about Home Depot are also false.

"It’s not true. We didn’t have any media buys or sponsorships with the Olympics," a spokeswoman for the home improvement chain told AFP on August 1.

Keyword searches found the satirical Facebook page America - Love It or Leave It shared what appears to be the first version of the post July 30.

The account says it is a "subsidiary of the America's Last Line of Defense network of trollery. Nothing on this page is real."

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Screenshot of a Facebook page taken August 1, 2024

America's Last Line of Defense is a network of parody websites run by Christopher Blair, who told AFP in 2020 that "confirmation bias" leads people to believe and share the articles.

A disclaimer on Latherland.com, one of the network's websites, says: "Everything on this page is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe it is real you should have your head examined."

The Paris Games have different levels of sponsorship, with 15 "Worldwide Olympic Partners" and another 70 sponsors providing funding (archived here). Home Depot is not on either list.

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee has its own list of sponsors, which also does not include the home improvement retailer (archived here).

Just one US company, Mississippi-based C Spire, has said publicly that it is withdrawing advertising for the Olympics over the opening ceremony (archived here).

More of AFP's reporting on misinformation about the 2024 Olympics is available here.