FACT-CHECK: Did Hobby Lobby pull ads from the Paris Olympics 2024? Exploring Viral Rumor

A piece of viral news is creating ripples on social media and concerns american retail company Hobby Lobby pulling out of a $ 50 million ad deal from the Paris Olympics 2024.

However is the news true?

Did Hobby Lobby really pull ads from the Paris Olympics 2024?

Let us delve deeper to know more about this news.

A viral rumour which has found much traction on social media is that well-known craft supply retail chain Hobby Lobby has pulled the plug of a $50 million in ads from the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024.

The rumor is traced to a post on Facebook called “America’s Last Line of Defense” as a meme and it was soon picked up by other users. 

The post detailed how Hobby Lobby had ended a two-decade-long partnership of sponsoring the biggest sporting spectacle in the world.

The caption on the post reads

 “We’ve been a worldwide partner for more than twenty years. It’s sad it has to end like this.”

The text in the meme further added,

 “Hobby Lobby Pulls $50 Million in Ads from the Olympics: ‘We Can’t Continue Supporting Anti-Christian Culture.’”

The Facebook post also featured an image of the opening ceremony of Paris Olympics 2024, a tableau which many found offensive because it resembled Leonardo da Vinci’s painting called The Last Supper.

However, the IOC had later clarified that the person in blue attire was actually Dionysus, a Greek God and it was a celebration of Feast Of God and had no connection with the Last Supper painting by Da Vinci.

The post received a number of comments and was reposted by many users and in all probability most believed the story. At the same time no one bothered to verify these claims that Hobby Lobby had pulled out of the USD 50M ads deal from the Paris Olympics. There has been no response from even the official sponsor of the Olympics.

However, after the initial melee the truth soon dawned upon netizens when they realized that the source of the viral news was a Facebook page of America’s Last Line of Defense which is known for posting satirical and fiction content, which is often served as news.

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