Satire site behind claim Shaquille O'Neal banished Tim Walz from his Atlanta restaurant

“Shaq Throws Tim Walz Out of His Restaurant: 'Don't Come Back, You're a Disappointment,” read a Facebook post published on September 9, 2024, by an account called “WNBA News Daily”.

Circulating in Nigeria, the post has been shared more than 100 times and includes side-by-side photographs of Walz and O’Neal, who is popularly known as Shaq.

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Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, taken on September 18, 2024

The poster also links to a blog article in the post's comments section.

Replies to the post were mixed. 

“I still can't believe how many people think these posts are real,” read one reply. “Shaq you just lost me as a fan,” read another.

A keyword search on Facebook found similar posts shared thousands of times in the United States, some labelled as satire.

Walz has faced an onslaught of misinformation since joining the Democratic ticket and this claim is equally misleading (archived here).

The earliest Facebook post AFP Fact Check found was linked to an article published on September 7, 2024, by a site called “Esspots”, a satirical website that describes itself as a “one-stop destination for satirical news and commentary about the United States of America”.

"In what can only be described as a cross between a reality TV show and a political roast, NBA legend and restaurateur Shaquille O’Neal reportedly threw Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz out of his Atlanta restaurant, Big Chicken, with the booming declaration, 'Don’t come back here, you’re a disappointment!'" the article says. 

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Screenshot of the Esspots article highlighting the satire label, taken on September 16, 2024

The article in the “WNBA News Daily” post is identical to the one on Esspots.

The Esspots website’s “About Us" page adds: “Our team of writers and editors is dedicated to bringing you the latest and greatest in fake news and absurdity, all with a healthy dose of humour and satire.”

Earlier this year, AFP Fact Check debunked claims from the same website about celebrities -- including another NBA legend Michael Jordan -- refusing multi-million dollar deals with “woke” brands Nike and Bud Light.

O’Neal’s Big Chicken franchise was founded in 2018 and has restaurants in dozens of US states, but not in Georgia. The basketball commentator and investor has participated in voter registration efforts but is not known for weighing in on national candidates, admitting he only voted for the first time in 2020 at age 48 (archived here and here). 

AFP receives daily schedules of candidates’ campaign itineraries. None of them mention a planned visit to a Big Chicken outlet by Walz.

Furthermore, Harris and Walz campaigned in the crucial battleground state of Georgia at the end of August and not in early September, which is when the posts were first published.

Walz was in Georgia again this week for his first solo campaign stop (archived here).