Fact Check: Did Home Depot pull out of Olympics sponsorship over Last Supper controversy? Online rumor debunked

The Olympics Opening Ceremony held on July 26, faced massive scrutiny over an act including drag queens, directed by Thomas Jolly. It allegedly seemed to reference The Last Supper. Many conservatives across the world claimed that it was disrespectful to Christianity and even called for a boycott of the Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, claims of Home Depot withdrawing its Olympic Games sponsorship, amid this controversy have been flying around. On Tuesday, July 30, a Facebook page, America - Love It Or Leave It, uploaded a post claiming the withdrawal of Home Depot's 30-year-long sponsorship of the event.

According to the post, the decision was allegedly taken by the company after the controversial opening ceremony.

"Home Depot is the 9th American company to pull out of the Olympics over the blasphemy they allowed," the caption read.

The post included a quote that read:

"Home Depot ends 30-year Olympics sponsorship: 'Our customers won't forgive us.'"

The claims, however, are untrue. 'America - Love It Or Leave It' is a subsidiary of the America's Last Line of Defense, another Facebook page. They have written in the bio that they post "satirical content."

"A subsidiary of the America's Last Line of Defense network of trollery. Nothing on this page is real," the page intro reads.

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Home Depot didn't withdraw its long-term sponsorship from the Olympics 2024

There has been immense bashing of the Olympic Games authorities after the controversial opening ceremony. This also gave rise to several memes and satirical posts on the internet, which often confused netizens. Recently, a viral claim about Home Depot pulling out its sponsorship surfaced.

The post was originally posted from a satirical page that is well-known for producing satirical memes about several incidents, including the recent Olympic Games. The "About Us" section of the page read:

"Everything on this page is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. Any similarities between site's pure fantasy and actual people, places and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical."

This clearly states that the claims about Home Depot canceling their sponsorship aren't true. Notably, the meme had made its way to X, formerly known as Twitter as well.

"Home Depot shares going up tomorrow?? Hmm 🤔 Home Depot is the 9th American company to pull out of the Olympics over the blasphemy they allowed," wrote an user on X.

Some netizens also tried to clarify that the news was fake. It is also worth noting that no official confirmation about such a withdrawal has been made by Home Depot.

News outlets had also not published any such information yet, making it safe to conclude that no such cancellation of sponsorship is happening from the company's end.

Snopes reported on July 31 that the satirical page didn't just mention Home Depot but also claimed that Samsung had withdrawn its sponsorship of $1 billion, objecting to the "woke agenda." The news has been debunked as well.

America's Last Line of Defense has a record of making such posts, which eventually go viral on the internet. The page was also responsible for producing recently viral satirical posts about the drop in Netflix's stock and subscriber count.

It came after its co-founder, Reed Hastings, donated $7 million to a super PAC to support Kamala Harris. The claims were, however, later debunked.

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The Olympics Opening Ceremony controversy

The 2024 Olympics opening ceremony featured a wide range of events, including heavy metal band Gojira's performance and Celine Dion's first performance after she was diagnosed with SPS, as well as Lady Gaga's pre-recorded show.

Another act by the opening ceremony's artistic director, Thomas Jolly, also kept the spectators on edge. The act, allegedly inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, featured several elements, including a semi-naked Greek god, Dionysus, covered in blue paint seen on the table, which offended many viewers.

The bashing continued even after it was clarified that the opening ceremony act was inspired by an ancient pagan feast. Due to constant backlash, the organizers apologized to Catholics and other Christian groups during a press conference and stated that they had no intention of hurting anybody's religious sentiments.

"Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance. We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence we are really sorry," the Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps told a press conference.

Thomas Jolly also mentioned that the act was expected to make everybody feel included, and offending people wasn't the purpose.